Harry Potter and the Change of Destiny
by Proud Mudblood
Summary: Harry Potter has had enough people die protecting him, so he tries to remove himself from the picture. Fortunately, Tonks is on duty, and things start to get interesting. HP/NT HG/DG
1. Out the Window

It had been a week since end of term, and Harry Potter wasn't doing well. Every two days, his aunt gave him two slices of toast with a glass of milk, and once every day he was allowed to use the bathroom. The only good thing he could think of was that they weren't making him do chores.

But the emotions Harry Potter was dealing with were the worst. Less than a month ago, he had seen another person die in front of him-and this time, it was his godfather, Sirius Black. Then, to make matters worse, Dumbledore suddenly decided _then_ that Harry needed to know about the prophecy. Just in case he hadn't been through enough. And it was those two things that The Boy-Who-Lived was thinking about.

Harry was taking a leaf out of Hermione's book and trying to think things through logically. Unfortunately, his conclusions were far from good. _So, Voldemort's going to keep coming after me, and my friends are going to try and protect me, __the Savior of the Wizarding world,_ he thought. _Take me out of the picture, and there's less chance the people I care about will die. So, the upsides to killing myself are: my friends will be that much safer, and I'll be able to see my parents and Sirius. The downside is… _He paused, unable to think of one. He wouldn't go forever without seeing his friends, after all. Yes, the wizarding world was in trouble, but the damn pureblood supremacists ensured that, anyway.

And so, unable to think of a downside, he decided that now was a good time, and walked to his window. From what he remembered, his guard was stationed across the street, so there would be no one to stop him. Since he knew the Dursleys were lazy, they wouldn't be doing anything in the backyard, and even if they were, they wouldn't care anyway. He tried to think of the best way he could do it, but he figured that just diving out the window would be best.

* * *

Tonks had long ago realized that standing across the street was an extremely stupid place to guard Number 4 Privet Drive from. From the backyard, she had a view of Harry's room, and could see through the sliding doors to the front of the house. As an added bonus, she was much closer if there was trouble. Strategically, she couldn't think of a downside. However, she was perfectly aware that it wasn't her only reason for being this close-she was worried about Harry. From the little she had seen of him, she knew he was a caring young man who had seen and down far more than he should have had to.

She was watching through his window closely (turning her head when he changed, of course), when it opened suddenly, revealing Harry. She was surprised to see that, instead of his usual sadness, his expression was determined. Her surprise turned to horror as she watched him jump out the window head first as though in slow motion. For a moment, she was too shocked to do anything more than watch. Thankfully, when she recovered, her wand was already in her hand and she was casting the levitating charm on him, followed by a quick stunner.

She quickly made her way way over to the floating boy to check on him, not noticing the pounding of her heart or the tears in her eyes. Upon arriving at Harry's side, her pulse quickened even more as she realized just how close she had cut it-Harry was inches from the ground. But what struck her the most was the look of peace on his face. _He's not even sixteen yet, but he's been through so much,_ she thought, her heart going out to the young wizard.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down, took off her invisibility cloak, and then cast an _enervate _on Harry. For a moment, Harry's eyes remained closed, and the peaceful look stayed on his face. But the peace quickly turned to puzzlement, and he opened his eyes to see an upside-down Tonks who had tears in her eyes.

"What were you thinking Harry?" Tonks asked, trying to sound stern. "Don't you realize how many people would miss you?" She wanted to continue, but her voice cracked at the end of the sentence.

Harry at least had the grace to look embarrassed for a moment, but it quickly turned into anger. "Would they miss me?" He asked. "Or would they miss their bloody weapon?"

_What the hell is he talking about? _Tonks asked herself, perplexed. "What do you mean? You're not a weapon," she said aloud to Harry.

"Nice to know someone thinks that," Harry grumbled. "Why'd you stop me?" He asked suddenly.

The situation they were in came back to Tonks. "I was one of those people who would miss you," she responded heatedly, before blushing and looking away. _Why am I embarrassed?_

Harry, completely missing the look of embarrassment, snorted, replying venomously, "Yeah, right. You're just here on Dumbledore's orders; protecting his precious _weapon_."

Tonks frowned at him. "That's the second time you've mentioned being a weapon," she said. "Want to explain it?"

Now it was Harry's turn to be embarrassed as he flushed and looked away. "Ummm... not really," he said, hoping she would let it go.

"Let me rephrase that," Tonks said in a voice like steel. "Explain it." Her tone left no room for argument.

Harry, however, had had enough. He was tired of everyone trying to control what he did. The Dursleys were always trying to force him to do chores, and Dumbledore was forcing him to live there. He was a _person_ damn it! He wanted control over his own life, including whether or not he would end it. "No."

Tonks was surprised-when she used that voice, only Dumbledore and Moody hadn't given in. Frowning, she started, "Now listen here, you can't just go around saying things like that about Dumbledore-"

"Oh, of course not," Harry interrupted sarcastically. "The great Albus bloody Dumbledore! He says jump, the world asks how high! Stop following his orders blindly! I'm here because the blood wards will supposedly protect me from the Dark Snake, but he used _my _blood in the ritual to come back to life! How safe does that make me, exactly?" He asked the auror scathingly.

Tonks blinked in surprise at the rage in the young man's voice, but she realized that he was right; if Voldemort _did _use Harry's blood in the ritual-and she had no reason to doubt him-then he wasn't safe here at all. "You're right," Tonks said, watching with faint amusement as Harry jerked in surprise. "I suppose everyone got so used to listening to Dumbledore, they stopped thinking for themselves."

Harry was surprised at the concession, and it was making him dizzy. Oh, wait, that was because he was hanging upside down. "Er, can I get down now?" He asked the pretty auror.

"Oh, yeah," Tonks said, embarrassed, before cancelling the spell.

Harry, for some reason unprepared, fell on his head. Unfortunately, his head was right above a rock, and it made a sickening _crack!_ sound as the rest of Harry fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Oh my God!" Tonks yelled. _I save him, then drop him on his head and break his neck,_ she thought bitterly, sobbing over what she thought was his dead body.

After a few moments to collect herself, she gathered him in her arms. She frowned upon lifting him and realizing how light he was. _That's not right!_ She thought angrily, stomping towards the house, not even realizing that she wasn't tripping over things like she usually did.

When she reached the back doors, she entered without knocking, surprising the Dursleys. Vernon was the first to get over his shock, and jumped up with surprising speed, yelling, "WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?"

Tonks glared coldly at him with tears still streaming down her face as she replied in an oddly even voice, "My name is Tonks, and I thought you'd like to know that your nephew is dead."

To her horror, the expression that spread across the faces of the two elder Dursleys was joy. Dudley looked confused, but Tonks was pretty sure that it was because he didn't know the meaning of the word 'nephew'. "Petunia, go get some champagne for a celebration," Vernon said. "Ms. Tonks, as the bearer of such excellent news, would you care to join us?"

Tonnks gently laid Harry on the ground, and pulled out her wand, causing Dudley to run screaming from the room, and Vernon's face to go an ugly purple color. "You're one of the freaks who thought it was funny to threaten us at the train station," he hissed in sudden recognition.

"Yes," Tonks replied in a detached voice. "And if you continue to be so derogatory towards your nephew, you'll realize that there is a reason to fear us." Unfortunately, Vernon was smarter than to do that, so she couldn't hex him and justify it. She was seriously tempted, though.

Before she could actually break the law, though, the supposedly-dead Harry let out a groan, causing Tonks to freeze. "Harry?" She whispered hopefully.

"Uh," Harry grunted. "I think I landed on a rock," he said, rubbing his head and wincing as he slowly got to his feet.

Tonks wrapped him up in a crushing hug, sobbing happily as she whispered in his ear, "You're alive."

"As long as you don't choke me to death," Harry gasped out, causing Tonks to jump back a little. She was surprised to see tears in his eyes.

"What's wrong Harry?" She asked gently.

"You meant it," he said softly. "When you said you'd miss me, you actually meant it." After that realization, he gripped Tonks in a surprisingly fierce hug, given his starvation, and whispered in her ear, "Thank you."

Tonks sent a glare over Hary's shoulder to Vernon who had wisely stayed quiet before whispering, "Of course I meant it Harry. And after what you told me, I think it would be best if you came to live with me at my flat," she added, not mentioning that the reactions she got when she told the Dursleys he was dead had played a part, as well.

Harry stiffened in her arms at the thought of living in her flat and shook his head fiercely. "I can't," he said simply.

Tonks was surprised and confused by his answer, she couldn't think of a reason he'd want to stay here. Did that mean it was her? "Why not?" She asked in a broken whisper.

Harry, knowing that Vernon, at least, was right there, and knowing his reaction would be bad at his reasoning, said, "I'll explain it upstairs."

Puzzled and a little hurt, Tonks followed him up the stairs, both of them missing the confusion that ensued downstairs when Petunia returned with the champagne bottle. When they reached Harry's room, Tonks had to once more repress the urge to go hex the Dursleys; she'd seen the room from outside, but seeing locks and a catflap made the entire thing different. "Alright, what's thte reason, Harry?" Tonks asked.

"Voldemort's after me," Harry began, ignoring Tonks's flinch at the name, "and he'll kill whoever is living with me. If I have to choose between you living or those three living, it's not even a choice," he explained.

Tonks felt both better and worse at the explanation, which was a rather odd conundrum if she dwelt on it. Better, because it didn't mean that Harry loathed her, but worse because he had the worst Dark Wizard in history after him. "Harry, I have the _Fidelius_ charm on my flat, and the only people who know where I live are my parents, with my father as Secret Keeper. Not even You-Know-Who could get my flat out of him, he's too stubborn," she said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Harry, though, wasn't in the mood to be cheered up. "You'd be surprised what the cruciatus from Voldemort can make you do," he said grimly, with the voice of experience.

Tonks sighed. "That's probably true," she conceded, before the way he said it caught up to her and she stiffened. Cautiously, hesitantly, she asked, "Did he...did You-Know-Who...did he hit you with the cruciatus?"

Harry, not quite able to handle the sympathy, looked away and gave a slight nod. "Bellatrix, too," he admitted softly. He gave a grim chuckle, saying, "It's almost funny, he's used all three of the Unforgivables on me."

Tonks just stared at him, unaware that she was making slight whimpering sounds. "I'm sorry," she finally managed to whisper.

"You didn't cast them," Harry said.

"No," Tonks agreed, "But you shouldn't have had to go through that, and I'm sorry that you did."

"Me too. Before that, I thought the cruciatus would feel the same way that basilisk venom did; it actually hurts much more, but without the knowledge that death will release you."

Tonks gasped. "You've faced a basilisk?" She asked. _Just how much had he been through?_

Harry gave her an odd look, before it turned to anger. "Doesn't Dumbledore tell anyone _anything_?" He seethed.

"I don't know," Tonks replied, feeling a bit upset that the man she had looked up to may not be as good a person as she thought. "But I do know that you're coming to my flat," she said, flicking her wand to pile all of his belongings into his trunk.

Harry rolled his eyes, knowing she wasn't going to give up; he'd seen that look on Hermione many times before. Besides, it was hidden, it had a beautiful woman, and that beautiful woman lost her cousin, who was his godfather, so they might be able to help each other. "Fine," he agreed.

"Great!" Tonks said, returning to her cheerful nature before grabbing his arm and his trunk and apparating to her flat.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to my beta, Inzainiac, for his help!**


	2. The Past of Harry Poter

_"Great!" Tonks said, returning to her cheerful nature before grabbing his arm and his trunk and apparating to her flat._

As usual, Harry stumbled upon landing, but, to his surprise, Tonks remained standing upright. Seeing his look, she scoffed at him. "Come on, Harry, do you really think I'm that clumsy? What use would I be as an auror if I tripped in the middle of a duel?" Harry had to admit that that made sense, but why did she pretend she was clumsy? "So that when I'm in other forms, people don't associate someone who doesn't trip over everything with a metamorphmagus. If I wasn't so 'clumsy,' the Death Eaters would always have to wonder if they were talking to a metamorphmagus. Since they think I'm such a clutz, I can infiltrate with ease unless they ask me to lift my sleeve."

Harry gave a small smile at that. "Devious," he said. "But why hide it from the Order?"

Her expression darkened, and she hissed, "Snape. I don't trust him. He got far too much joy destroying every other house's points; he could have easily explained it as needing to keep his cover with Dumbledore, but instead he tells Dumbledore it's to keep his cover with the Death Eaters." She snorted, saying, "I'm not entirely sure which side he's on, so I'm careful."

Harry frowned at her, asking, "Why would you trust Dumbledore about everything else unquestioningly but doubt Snape's loyalty?"

"Probably because I had him for a teacher," she said with humor and a touch of bitterness.

Harry nodded, understanding that, and took the time to look around. They were just inside the door and in the living room. Knowing that Tonks's father, Ted, was muggleborn, Harry wasn't surprised to see a TV in front of the couch. The room itself was pretty plain, just a couch, a chair, and the TV. Directly across from them was the kitchen, and to their right were two doorways. Since both were ajar, Harry knew that one was to the bedroom, and one was to the bathroom. The couch was between the doorways and the TV was stuck to the opposite wall with what Harry assumed was a sticking charm.

Tonks allowed Harry a few moments to view the flat before breaking into his thoughts. "Welcome to my humble abode," she said teasingly, with a mocking bow thrown in for good measure.

"Thanks, Tonks," Harry tried to say warmly, but it came out rather dull, causing Tonks to frown.

"Don't you like it?" She asked, trying to hide her nervousness.

"Oh, no!" Harry said. "I love it! It's just...I can't stop thinking about it. No matter how hard I try, it's never long before it's back in my head," he finished softly.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that 'it' was what happened at the Department of Mysteries. Not knowing what to say, she did what her mother did when she was upset-she wrapped him in a comforting hug. To her displeasure, he tensed at the physical contact before tentatively returning the hug. _What did those damnable muggles do to make him react like that to physical contact? _She seethed in her head.

_I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry,_Harry chanted in his head as Tonks held him. As far as he could tell, she was only the fourth person he could remember hugging him. He was sure his parents had, but he couldn't remember that. The other three people were Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, and Sirius. He winced slightly as he thought of Sirius, but quickly pushed it down. When Tonks finally let go of him, he whispered, "Thanks."

"Any time, Harry," she said back almost as softly. _As depressing as this is, he's kind of cute when he's sad, _she thought to herself before mentally shaking her head. _As in a little brother kind of cute,_she told herself. But for some reason, she didn't believe herself. Mentally shaking herself again, she asked cheerfully, "So whatcha wanna do?"

She was surprised by the fierce fire that leaped into his eyes at the question. "I need to train," he said simply, but in a voice that suggested only death would stop him.

"I'll help you," Tonks said after a moment. "If you tell me what's going on; first you call yourself a weapon, and now you need training? What is going on?"

Harry looked at her for a moment, giving her the impression of being measured. It reminded her of when Mad-Eye first met her to begin training. After a moment of 'measuring' her, Harry said, "Fine. But first, how much do you know of my years at Hogwarts?"

"Not much," she admitted. "I know about the tasks you faced in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, as well as the end of the last two years, but other than that, I only know that you mentioned a basilisk."

"Fucking Dumbledore," Harry muttered angrily. "Okay, short version, I've faced Snake Face at the end of every year except Third Year. Chances are good he's going to keep coming after me, hence the training. Would you also like the long version, or is that good?"

Tonks gave him hard stare, and said, "Long version."

Harry, expecting it, sighed and waved her to the couch. Hesitantly at first, Harry started at his first year and continued onward, eventually forgetting his embarrassment since Tonks was just staring at him in amazement and not interrupting him. She now knew everything he did in connection with Voldemort and the challenges he had faced with the exception of the prophecy. "And now you know," he ended with a sigh.

"Cor, that's a lot," Tonks breathed in amazement. "I wish you would tell me whatever it is you're hiding, though," she added, causing Harry to start.

"W-what makes you think I'm hiding something?" He asked, his eyes flicking up to hers and then back down.

Tonks snorted in amusement. "Harry, after everything you've just told me-which I'd be willing to bet you downplayed-I can certainly say you're Gryffindor brave. However, you're absolutely pants at lying." She sighed at the look of internal debate he seemed to have. "Why won't you tell me?" He mumbled something she couldn't hear. "What?"

Clearing his throat, he said, "I said, 'I don't want you looking at me different.'"

"Well," Tonks began, "I can't say I won't look at you different, because I don't know what you're hiding, but I can promise to do my best not to _treat_ you different."

Harry was still not sure, so Tonks got up to get them both drinks and give him a few minutes to think. When she got back, Harry was still debating internally, barely managing to mutter a "Thank you," when Tonks handed him his drink. After a few more minutes of silence, Harry took a deep breath, and said, "Alright. You remember the prophecy that the Order was guarding?" A nod from Tonks. "Did Dumbledore ever tell you what the prophecy said?" A wary shake of the head. "Well, he told me. Right after Sirius died, too, the bloody git. Anyway, the prophecy goes, '_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives...the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.'"_

Tonks just stared at him for a moment, shocked that he had been through so much, and then this, too? _What had that old man been thinking? _She thought. Unable to think of anything else to do, she leaned forward and gave him another hug. She wasn't surprised when he tensed up at first again, but it still angered her. Pulling back, she decided that bluntness was probably the best way to deal with Harry. "Harry, how bad were the Dursleys?"

Again, she wasn't surprised when he tensed, or when he replied, lying, "They just don't really like me. It's not that bad."

Tonks gave him a stern look, saying, "Harry, even if you weren't a horrible liar, I would know you were lying. When I told them you were...dead," her voice cracked on the word, "...they had a bloody celebration!" She exclaimed angrily. "That goes a bit beyond 'not really liking you.'"

"It doesn't matter," Harry muttered, not looking at Tonks.

"Harry," she said sadly. He looked up at her, and she noticed a pain in his eyes that he was trying to hide. "Please?" She begged.

Harry sighed-for some reason, he just felt like he couldn't deny her; maybe it was because she had saved him from Privet Drive, or maybe it was something else. Either way, Harry started talking. "They trained me to cook, clean, do the laundry, and tend the garden, but I was barely allowed any food, I originally lived in the cupboard under the stairs, I don't have any clothes that didn't originally belong to Dudley. If I was injured, I didn't go to the doctors, I often had to set my own bones. That's basically how it went until I got the Hogwarts letter," he said, still not looking at Tonks.

_Cor,_ she thought, _I would have committed suicide long before today!_ Then an unsettling thought occurred to her. "Harry," she said hesitantly, "today wasn't the first time you've attempted suicide, is it?" Not surprisingly, Harry tensed at the question, but he shook his head slowly in answer. A part of her wanted to know how many times, but she knew that it wasn't a question she actually wanted an answer to, so she simply pulled him into a hug again. She tried to ignore the thought that she liked being in his arms and whispered into his ear, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Harry replied.

"I'm still sorry you had to go through it," Tonks replied stubbornly.

"So am I," Harry said. "Should I say sorry, too?"

She snorted, and raised her hand to playfully smack him. Before she could, he flinched and skittered away from the raised hand, causing her to freeze. "They didn't..." Tonks hissed. However, seeing his reaction, she knew he had been beaten, and probably often. "They bloody did, didn't they!" She yelled, jumping up. "Excuse me, there are a few people who need to be cursed," she said to Harry before apparating away.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to my beta, Insainiac, for putting up with me and my mistakes!**


	3. Nightmares

____

"Excuse me, there are a few people who need to be cursed," she said to Harry before apparating away.

Tonks was able to apparate nearly silently, but she wanted to make an entrance and appeared in the living room of the Dursleys home with a deafening _**crack! **_Fortunately, all of the Dursleys were in the living room, as well, making life easier for the auror.

After the initial shock and screams, Vernon began yelling about trespassing. Tonks, of course, wasn't in the mood, and he was immediately silenced. Had they been magical, they wouldn't have dared. They would have felt the magic stirring around Tonks and realized she was close to losing control of it-not something that usually happens to an adult witch or wizard.

Stalking forward slowly, Tonks admitted to herself that she enjoyed the way they cowered away from her. As far as she was concerned, they deserved everything she was going to do them. Thinking quickly, she made herself pale, with long, black hair, red eyes, and fangs to make them think she might be a vampire. She enjoyed the way Petunia screamed and fainted, but quickly enervated her, growling, "You're not getting off that easily. But, before I do anything too damaging, I need to check something." That said, she quickly bound the three with a quick inarcerous hex and went to check the cupboard Harry had mentioned.

When she returned, she was nearly apoplectic with rage. "How _dare_ you?" She hissed menacingly. "To a _child_?" Behind her, the TV exploded, causing the Dursleys to jump-which was fairly amusing, since they were still tied together. Almost shaking in rage, she considered what spells to use. As an auror, she knew many spells, but the ones she really wanted to use were far from legal, and she was struggling to control herself. Finally, after stopping herself from using some very nasty curses, she settled on simply returning what they had done to Harry. He hadn't been allowed to eat, now they would be unable to stand the thought of food. He had been forced to clean, now they would be compelled to clean. They had beaten him, lets see how they handled beating themselves every time they said freak or something else derogatory to or about anyone. "Anything to say?" She asked them with a smirk after removing the silencing charms and the incarcerous hex.

Vernon, who was now a deep violet from rage, immediately started yelling, "NOW LISTEN HERE, YOU FREAK-" before he was cut off by slapping himself across the face. Tonks's smirk grew wider, knowing he wasn't going to learn that quickly, and the punishment he inflicted on himself would get worse with each repetition. As much as she wanted to stick around and watch him beat himself up, she didn't feel like taking the verbal abuse. So she changed back to her spiky-haired form and apparated back to her flat much more quietly than she had arrived.

* * *

Harry had tried to grab Tonks before she disappeared, but it didn't work and he found himself only holding air. _Why was she so upset? _Harry asked himself. He couldn't seem to wrap his head around around the idea that she honestly cared about what happened to him. He still had trouble believing that Ron and Hermione cared about him, but Tonks was basically a new person. Sure, he had met her last year, but he had been more concerned with Sirius being locked in the house than anything then. He was still trying to puzzle it out when Tonks appeared with a small _pop!_ in front of him, making him jump.

"Wotcher, Harry!" Tonks said, much more cheerful than when she left.

"What did you do to them?" Harry demanded of her.

"Nothing serious, yet," Tonks said. "It will be a while before the curses have much effect."

"Tonks," Harry said warningly.

From most fifteen-year-olds, she would have laughed it off, but considering what Harry had done, she wasn't willing to push it. Raising her hands in defeat, she said, "Alright, alright. I gave them a taste of their own medicine. They'll be repulsed by food, making it so they'll only eat when they're on the edge of survival, I placed a compulsion on them to do the chores they made you do, constantly. And every time they say something derogatory, they beat themselves up; the beating gets worse with each repetition," she smirked. "Oh, yeah," she added, the smirk growing wider, "I also accidentally blew up their TV."

Harry laughed, both relieved and pleased that something had been done, and feeling a bit guilty for it. Pushing the guilt aside, he said, "That's brilliant, Tonks! But it wears off, right?" He asked.

"Yeah," Tonks said. "But I tied it to their magic, and basically set a timer on it for ten years," she said with a grin.

Harry frowned. "What magic? They're muggles," he pointed out.

Tonks shook her head. "Everyone has magic," she explained, "But wizards and witches can actually use it. Think of magic as cable; both muggles and wizards have it, but muggles don't have the TV necessary to utilise it."

Harry laughed at the comparison, but his thoughts were still on what Tonks did to them. "Am I bad person, for wishing it was worse?" He asked Tonks.

Tonks shrugged. "If so, we'll be bad together," she said, throwing in a suggestive wink for good measure, causing Harry to blush at the innuendo, but feel a little better about the situation. "Besides, better what I did than have Remus visit them-he would cast a spell that mimics the effect of the full moon for a week after making all outer walls, doors, and windows impenetrable," she said, shuddering at the mental image of the carnage.

Harry, though, was frowning thoughtfully. "If there's a spell to mimic the effect of the full moon, why not take it apart and reverse it to try and negate the effect of the actual full moon?" He asked.

Sighing, she admitted, "People have been trying for years, but no one seems to be able to."

Harry snorted. "Give the spell to Hermione, she'll find a reversal in a week," he said confidently.

Pushing aside the sudden flare of jealousy at the way Harry spoke of Hermione, Tonks shrugged and said, "I don't see any harm in letting her try. The incantation is _plenus luna_, literally meaning 'full moon' in Latin." Harry nodded, and went to write a letter to Hermione before remembering that Hedwig had left when he was really moody. _Oh well_, he thought shrugging, _I can still write the letter_.

* * *

While Harry was writing his letter, Tonks was trying to find the answer to three questions. Question one, what was she doing? Question two, what was she going to do? And question three-the scariest of all-what was she feeling?

_Alright Tonks, one at a time,_ she thought to herself. _You're currently doing your best to protect a kid-no, a man-who has been through so much pain and suffering he should be as crazy as the Longbottoms. You're going to help him learn to protect himself in every way you possibly can, especially considering that prophecy! Stupid old man, why didn't you train him! Getting off track. The last question, what am I feeling? Am I just crushing on the famous Boy-Who-Lived? Is it even a crush? Am I just thinking it's a crush because he's a guy and living in the same house as me? Damn it, I'm a girl! Feelings are supposed to come naturally to me!_The pink-haired auror railed at herself in her head. With a mental sigh, she admitted defeat. _Alright, I have no idea what I'm feeling, let's just go with it._

Knowing it was the best conclusion she could come to, she closed her eyes and leaned back, waiting for Harry to finish. They still had yet to eat dinner, and she had to wake up for work tomorrow. As she was trying to think of what she was going to make for dinner, she heard Harry call from the kitchen, "Hey, Tonks, is it alright if I make us scrambled eggs with ham for dinner? I know it's typically a breakfast meal, but it's easy and fast to make, and I'm a bit tired."

Tonks snorted at the gross understatement of that; after lifting him, he knew he had barely eaten, drastically decreasing his energy reserves, and considering the attempted suicide and hitting his head on a rock, as well as how worried he looked when she got back, she was amazed he was still standing. Although, considering he had been forced to go through a lot more on the same amount of food, she supposed she shouldn't be. "Harry, you don't have to cook for me," she called back.

"I'm not," came the call back, "I'm cooking for _us._"

Tonks rolled her eyes at the distinction, but she knew it was an important one. "If you truly want to, go for it. But please keep in mind you're not cooking for two whales," she responded, earning a chuckle.

* * *

Dinner was a quiet affair; Tonks was too tired to make conversation after having her first bout of accidental magic in years, and Harry was forcing himself to eat at a reasonable pace. Despite that, he was still done first, and half of the dishes done before Tonks even registered that fact. Sighing, she said, "Harry, you don't have to do all the chores."

Focusing on his task, Harry replied, "I know, but you're taking me in and training me. Plus, I'll actually be able to _eat_ the food I make here. I need to repay you somehow."

Tonks desperately was torn between wanting to hug him, and wanting to go back and use some more curses on the Dursleys for making Harry think he had to repay her for what any good guardian would do. The urge to curse the Dursleys grew when she gently placed her hand on his shoulder and he tensed. After he relaxed, Tonks informed him, "Harry, I'm not doing this so you can repay me."

"I know," Harry replied, "And that's why I need to repay you."

Tonks thought about that for a minute, but she didn't get it. "What?" She asked after giving up.

"You're taking me in and training me because it's the right thing to do. I'd feel like a heel if I just lazed about while you did that for me. Besides that, I'm used to it."

Although she could have done without the last part, Tonks admitted defeat, and said, "Alright, if you insist. Since you seem to have everything under control, I guess I'll go to bed; I have work tomorrow." Deciding to tease him, she kissed him on the cheek and whispered a breathy, "Goodnight," into his ear, revelling in the blush on his face and the catch of his breath, before heading into her bedroom, pausing only to transfigure the couch into a bed.

* * *

_"I love you Harry," Sirius said as a green jet of light shot from Harry's own wand into his chest. Behind him stood Remus, Hermione, Ron, and Tonks. He wanted to scream, or run away, anything not to kill them. Instead, each of them said they loved him before he killed them._

_Once he had killed them, Voldemort stepped out of the shadows. "Well done, my apprentice," he said approvingly._

_Harry wanted nothing more than to kill him, too. Instead, he found himself kneeling before him, saying, "Thank you, Master." Looking into the Dark Lord's eyes, he found a reflection of himself; his hair was still pitch black, and his eyes were still green, but every other aspect of him resembled Voldemort._

_"Harry," Voldemort said. "Harry," he repeated, but it sounded different._

With a start, he woke to Tonks calling his name with tears streaming down her face. He reached up to wipe the tears from her face, saying soothingly, "Shh, it's okay Tonks. Just a nightmare."

He quickly found himself engulfed in a hug, Tonks asking, "Shouldn't I be the one comforting you?"

Wrapping his arms around her in return, he answered without thinking, "I don't know, no one ever has before." Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say, because she gripped him tighter and cried harder. Aghast, Harry quickly said, "I'm sorry Tonks, I wasn't-"

"No," Tonks interrupted fiercely. "You have nothing to be sorry about. I'm just sorry you grew up like that and that I didn't curse the bloody Dursleys worse."

Frowning, Harry asked, "How did you know I was having a nightmare?"

"Are you kidding?" Tonks asked. "You were screaming like a banshee!"

"That's odd," Harry said. "I had learned how to keep mostly quiet during my nightmares; the Dursleys didn't like my screams to wake them up," he said, too tired to even think of hiding things like he usually would. "It only took two broken arms to get the message," he murmured tiredly as he drifted off to sleep, missing Tonks's sobs at his words.

_It's not right! _Tonks once again raged in her own head. _Didn't anyone notice? Didn't anyone do anything?_ She didn't have the answers, but she knew that she was going to do something. Right now, she was going to simply be there for him. She knew that if anyone saw what she did, it would be heavily frowned upon, but right then, she didn't care. Making the bed that used to be a couch slightly larger, she climbed in and pressed her back against him. She thrilled as he automatically wrapped his arms around her, but quickly pushed that feeling aside, knowing it was probably what he had done to all the other girls that had been in his bed, and he had probably just done it so often it was no big deal. She wondered how many girls he had had his arms wrapped around, but pushed it aside.

* * *

The next morning, Harry woke up to an unfamiliar feeling. He groggily opened his eyes to figure out what it was, and found Tonks in his arms. He immediately tensed, with the phrase, _Oh shit,_running through his head multiple times. Forcing himself to calm down, he checked where his hands were, hoping it was't anything so bad he would get hexed. Upon realizing that his right hand was on her thigh, and his left hand was on her left breast, he quickly changed his wish to hoping he would survive the hexes.

He was trying to gently extract himself himself when Tonks, who had actually been awake for a while, said, "Oi! I was rather enjoying where your hands were!" This, of course, caused Harry to tense again, meaning he accidentally squeezed her breast, eliciting a quiet moan from Tonks.

Harry, not realizing it was a moan of pleasure, immediately pulled his hands to himself, babbling frantically, "I'm sorry, Tonks! I swear, I didn't mean to, I was sleeping, and when I-"

Tonks flipped herself over and interrupted his rant with a quick kiss on the lips. "Relax, Harry, I'm sure this isn't the first time you've woken to a girl in your bed," she said in an attempt to reassure him while simultaneously pushing down the surge of jealousy. _Merlin, girl, you got it bad!_ She thought to herself.

The ludicrousness of her suggestion got a snort out of Harry. "You're sure wrong, then," he told her. "This is a first for me."

"What?" Tonks asked, shocked and pleased. "But you're the Boy-Who-Lived!"

"Exactly," Harry said. "I don't want to be wanted for my fame, I want to be wanted for who I am. Fat chance of that happening," he said sadly.

"I know how you feel," Tonks agreed sadly. "You have no idea how many men I've gone on dates with, just to have them turn around and ask me to turn into someone famous. One of them even wanted me to turn into you," she admitted.

Harry groaned. "I really wish you hadn't told me that last part," he said. "But I'm sorry people are like that," he offered.

It was fair to say that, right then, Tonks didn't care about anyone as much as she did the man in front of her. "Thank you, Harry," she said, giving him a hug.

When Harry didn't reply, she looked at him to find that he was looking at her thoughtfully. "Since I'm pretty sure that pink isn't a natural hair color, and that violet isn't a natural eye color, I'm pretty sure that that isn't your natural form. What do you actually look like?" He asked.

Tonks searched his face carefully, looking for any sign of guile or a mocking light in his eyes. Finding nothing, she whispered, "You're actually the first person to ask me that other than my parents." That said, she closed her eyes and concentrated.

Harry watched as her short, pink, spiky hair grew and turned black. Her breast grew a bit larger, and her hips flared slightly. Her face retained the same cut, and she was still the same height, but when her eyes opened, Harry was struck by the deep grey color of them. He wasn't even aware that he unconsciously whispered, "Beautiful..." Tonks was, though, and she thrilled at the thought that he considered her beautiful.

After a few moments, Harry finally managed to extract himself from her eyes and ask, "Why on earth do you change at all? If you stayed in your natural form, no one would even _want_ you to change," he declared fervently.

She blushed and hugged Harry tightly, making Harry fully aware of her larger breasts. "Thanks, Harry," she whispered in his ear.

"No problem," Harry said, struggling not to think of what was against his chest. It was made easier when Tonks rubbed his back, causing him to wince slightly.

Tonks tensed at the wince. "Harry, take off your shirt," she demanded, a little detached.

Harry was struggling to find a way out of this when he remembered Tonks's flirting from last night. With a cheeky wink, he replied, "If you take off yours." He wasn't expecting her to promptly take off said shirt, revealing a lacy, black bra. A lacy, black bra designed to fit the smaller boobs of her 'normal' form. _Damn_, he thought. _As much as I like the view, now I have to take my shirt off._ Hesitantly, he slowly pulled his shirt over his head.

Tonks took in the view, enjoying the musculature of the body in front of her, as long as she didn't consider that he got them from being a slave. Looking him over, she noticed a few bruises on his chest, a slash in his right for arm, and some kind of marks on his shoulders. She knew the slash cam from Wormtail's knife, and the bruises weren't that bad. The shoulder marks were what concerned her, because she knew it extended-at least to some point-to his back. "Turn around," she demanded, still with that same detached voice.

"But I like the view," Harry blurted out, before blushing crimson, and looking at his feet.

A few minutes ago, Tonks would have blushed almost as much as he had at the obvious compliment to her figure. Right now, though, she simply repeated in the detached voice, "Turn around."

Harry sighed and slowly flipped over. Tonks gasped and lost her detachment at the horrible sight that greeted her; Harry's entire back and shoulders were crisscrossed with scars she recognized as being with a belt from the one abuse case she had handled. She had only done the one because she couldn't stomach it. She wasn't even aware that she started sobbing until Harry wrapped his arms around, whispering comfortingly, "Shh, it's okay. It's over. Thanks to you, it's over." He continued to repeat this until she eventually stopped crying and was just hugging him.

For a few moments, they simply lay together, basking in the joy of being in the arms of the other person. Finally, Harry asked, "Umm...don't you have work, Nymphadora?" He didn't even think about using her first name, it just felt natural somehow.

Tonks answered, "Yeah, but I woke up an hour early, so I still have time." It took a moment for her to realize that he had called her Nymphadora, but it felt so natural, she didn't even want to reprimand him. "You called me Nymphadora," she said, a bit shocked that it didn't upset her.

Harry heard the words, but missed the tone, and immediately assumed she was upset. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to upset you-"

Tonks interrupted his frantic apologies with another quick kiss, leaving him shocked again. "I'm not upset, Harry," she reassured him. "I was actually surprised at how natural it felt for you to call me by my actual name."

"Does that mean I can call you that more often?" He asked hopefully.

"You actually _want_to call me Nymphadora?" She asked, surprised.

He shrugged shyly. "Well, yeah. I kind of like it," he admitted.

Tonks rolled her eyes. "Harry you don't have to lie to me."

"I'm not lying," Harry said, a bit surprised she thought he was. "First off, you yourself said I was a bad liar," he said with a grin, "And second, your name is really unique, like you," he finished with a light blush.

Tonks smiled and blushed as well. "Mr. Potter, you certainly know how to woo a girl. But you're supposed to compliment her, then see her with her shirt off, and then get her into bed, not the other way around!"

To her surprise, he actually managed to blush more, but he still replied, "At least I knew enough to get a kiss before seeing you with your shirt off." In a fine example of maturity, she stuck her tongue out at him. With a cheeky grin and a wink, Harry said, "I've heard that there are better uses for a tongue."

Tonks wasn't defeated that easily. Returning both the grin and the wink, she proceeded wiggle her hips against him and ask huskily, "Wanna try 'em?" She laughed aloud at his astonished expression, and got out of the bed. She swayed her hips as she walked to the bathroom, before stopping at the doorway, and looking back at his glazed, wide-eyed stare.

She laughed again as he snapped out of it, calling, "You cheeky minx!"

She gave him another wink, responding, "You betcha," before continuing into the bathroom for her shower. It was only after the water hit her that she realized what she was doing. _Shit, I'm seducing a fifteen-your-old!_ She thought with a groan. _I'll have to talk to him at breakfast,_ she though with another groan.

* * *

_What the hell is going on?_ Harry asked himself, as he cooked and considered the morning's events. He couldn't help but think how natural it felt to be with her; even when they teased and embarrassed each other with innuendos, something just felt right. _Am I crushing on her?_ He asked himself. He was pretty sure that he was. _Great. I'll just have to talk to her at breakfast and tell her that she should stop teasing me; I'm sure she doesn't want a fifteen-year-old drooling all over her._


	4. Phoenix Meeting

I really need to talk to him at breakfast, _Tonks thought._

I really need to talk to her at breakfast, _Harry thought._

* * *

There was an awkward silence as the two ate their eggs and bacon until, finally, Tonks broke the silence. "Harry, we need to talk."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't going to be the one to bring it up. "I agree."

Unable to look at the young man across from her, Tonks said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be trying to seduce you."

"What?" Harry exclaimed, utterly surprised. "How have you been trying to seduce me?" He asked, utterly nonplussed.

Somehow feeling more ashamed that he hadn't noticed what was-to her mind-his seduction, she replied, "I slept in the same bed with you, I kissed you multiple times, and I took my shirt off. I shouldn't be doing that just because I have a crush on you." Harry wanted desperately to interrupt at this point, but remained silent as she continued, "I'm older than you by seven years, and it's wrong for me to take advantage of you when you just lost your Godfather."

Harry quietly got up from the table and walked over to where Tonks was sitting. He gently placed his fingers under her chin and lifted her head until she was looking at him. "Nymphadora," he said quietly, "I was going to suggest that we stop flirting with each other when this conversation started." He raised his hand when he saw that she was going to say something. "Please, let me continue. I was going to suggest we stop flirting because I realize I have a crush on you."

Before Harry could continue, Tonks groaned and explained, "Harry, that's exactly what I was afraid of. Because of what I did, you now think you have a crush on me."

She thought this would convince him, but he firmly shook his head. "No, Tonks. Well, yes, I suppose so." Seeing her dismayed look, he hurriedly continued, "But not because you were trying to seduce me. I could tell by how natural your actions were that you are just naturally playful. It's you're natural playfulness that got me, not some perceived seduction." And then, to the surprise of both of them, he leaned down and kissed her. This wasn't like the kisses she had given him. Instead of a quick kiss on the lips, this was a deep kiss filled with a surprising amount of passion, and Tonks found herself kissing him back before she knew what had happened.

"Wow," Tonks commented after the kiss was broken by a need for oxygen. Glancing at the clock, she said, "Damn! We're finishing this conversation when I get back from work." Her tone was mildly reproving, but Harry detected a spark of lust in her eyes. Before he could say anything, though, she apparated away.

_Wow, what the hell got into me?_ Harry thought. He wasn't complaining about it, so much as surprised; he could barely speak around Cho before, and now he was initiating kisses! All he knew was that he wasn't going to be able to think of much until Tonks got back. As he contemplated what he had done, and what he planned to do, he absentmindedly started to clean up the flat.

* * *

While Harry was absentmindedly cleaning her flat, Tonks was trying-and failing-to focus on the paperwork in front of her. _Why does Dawlish have to create so many problems?_ She asked herself. Unfortunately, this lead to the more distracting question, _How does Harry create so many problems? Although, I have to admit, his kisses are not one of his problems...Snap out of it, Tonks! Weren't you saying just this morning how it was wrong of you to seduce him?_

Her inner battle was interrupted by Kingsley. "Tonks, are you alright?" He asked, noting the way she jumped. "You don't seem so well; perhaps you should head home," he suggested, a bit worried. He knew this would put her slightly behind on her work, but he also knew that she was a good Auror and could come back from the setback.

The prideful part of Tonks desperately wanted to say she was fine to work, but she knew it was a lie, and accepted with a grateful, "Thank you," to Kingsley. Seconds later, she apparated back to her flat.

* * *

Harry jumped when he heard the crack of apparition that indicated Tonks had arrived. "Hey," he said. "You had a short day."

"Yeah," Tonks said, a bit embarrassed. "Kingsley could tell I was distracted and sent me home."

"Ah," Harry said, unsure of what else to say.

"So I thought we could take this time to talk," Tonks prodded helpfully.

"Oh," Harry said, far less helpfully.

Tonks rolled her eyes at him, and transfigured the bed in the living room back into a couch, gesturing for Harry to sit. "So...what the hell happened this morning?" She asked as she joined him on the couch.

"I dunno," Harry said, clearly uncomfortable.

"Harry," Tonks said, gently chiding, "We need to get past this since we're going to be living together." Harry nodded, but remained silent. Mentally sighing, Tonks pleadedd, "Please talk to me."

Harry looked up, startled by the plea. "Honestly, I don't really know what to say. I like you, and you apparently like me. What else is there?"

Giving another mental sigh, Tonks replied, "Harry, it's not that simple. You're still a minor, while I'm an adult. Not to mention the complications with the Order. Once they realize you're not there, I'm sure Kingsley will connect it to my distracted behavior today," she ended with a frown.

Harry snorted. "How would they notice I'm missing?" He asked bitterly.

Tonks wanted to reprimand him, but when she thought about it, it was probably true. As far as she knew, everyone watched from across the street, and they watched for an attack, not to make sure Harry was safe from his relatives. With yet another sigh, Tonks admitted that it was probably true, "But that still doesn't help. I'm still seven years older than you, and at some point, the Order will go to pick you up, and the fact that you're missing will become known."

Harry thought about it for a minute, before a truly maniacal gleam came into his eyes. "Honestly, the age difference doesn't bother me, especially considering our life spans. But as for the problem with the Order, when's your next shift on guard duty?"

Nymphadora's hair was cycling happily through various colors at his declaration that the age difference didn't matter, but she was very wary as she answered, "It's tonight, why?"

Harry's grin was absolutely feral as he answered, "I have a plan."

* * *

The room was deathly silent as Nymphadora Tonks gently placed the body of Harry Potter on the table in front of the Order members. Everyone except Tonks seemed to have gone into shock, and Tonks had tears going down her face. She barely had to add anything to what she was feeling, as she had thought he was dead only yesterday, and the emotions were still raw. "He jumped out the window headfirst, like he was diving into a pool," she whispered into the silent room. "I couldn't get to him in time."

The room exploded; many were in tears, but some seemed angry. Two expressions caught Tonks's eye the most though: Dumbledore, who looked shocked and horrified, and Snape, who looked horrified and, surprisingly, remorseful. Abruptly, his expression changed to anger, and he stood up, basically demanding attention. "Silence!" He yelled when many people didn't react to his rising. "Nymphadora Tonks, where is Harry Potter?" The question brought far more silence than his command did.

To everyone's surprise, Tonks smiled. "He said you would be the one to figure it out, sir," Tonks said. "I now owe him a galleon, since my bet was on Minerva as the Transfiguration teacher. Harry is staying at my place, and this," she gestured to the 'body,' "was his idea. Except for the part where I couldn't get to him in time, what I told you was the truth. After I saved him, he suggested that I do this if you felt like trying to push him to go back or anything else, for that matter."

When Harry had first told her the plan, she had expected him to say something snide, like, "Potter just wants more attention." However, after seeing his remorseful look, she wasn't surprised to see a determined expression cross his face. Molly's reaction was even less of a surprise, as she immediately began to clamor for him to go to the Burrow.

"With all due respect, Molly," Tonks said with remarkable calm, considering the situation, "Harry has specifically requested staying at my place since it is under the Fidelius, and I can train him."

"He can't do magic outside of school!" Molly protested. "Besides, he is a child, he should not be training," she added reprovingly.

Before Tonks could retort, Dumbledore interrupted. "Harry must return to Privet Drive, as the blood wards protect him."

"No," Tonks replied firmly.

Dumbledore looked shocked at the defiance, and Tonks realized just how used to power he had gotten. "Excuse me, Miss Tonks?" He asked.

"I said 'no,' Headmaster," she replied. "Harry stated he would rather be under the cruciatus for the summer rather than go back."

At this, Severus _did_ speak up. "He wouldn't say that if he'd been under it."

"He _has_ been under it," Tonks replied quickly, glad she had gotten permission to reveal that fact from Harry. She knew it would come up once she repeated his declaration.

At this, there was outrage, and more than a little horror. The only thing louder than Molly's outrage that someone would do that to a child was Lupin's outraged question of, "How bad are those _relatives_," he sneered the term, "treating him?"

Tonks sighed. She had hoped it wouldn't come up, but replied, "I promised I would reveal nothing he told me or showed me. However, he was knocked unconscious at one point, and I had to carry him. He weighs maybe eighty pounds."

Silence greeted that statement, again, before the room erupted into people promising violence to the 'relatives' or telling Dumbledore that he could shove the idea of Harry going back 'where the sun don't shine'. Molly, of course, didn't just let it go at that. "He _must_ come back to the Burrow so he can be properly fed!"

"He's staying with me!" Tonks snapped at her, a little more harshly than she meant to. "It is what he wants," she added, with only slightly less heat.

"Only because he thinks you can _train_ him," Molly retorted. "You can't, because of the Underage Restriction Policy," she pointed out, a little vindictively, Tonks thought.

"First off," Tonks began, definitely getting annoyed, "that is _not_ the only reason. Second, my house is warded against magic being detected, so I _can_ train him."

"Why is your house warded against magic being used?" Kingsley asked, both curious and reproving.

"And what other reason does Harry have for wanting to stay with _you_?" Molly asked, sounding disbieliving and insulted.

"I don't know, my dad did it," she lied smoothly to Kingsley before turning an angry glare on Molly. "I would appreciate you not insulting me. And, as much as Harry loves your family, it's never quiet there. With so many students at Hogwarts, it's never quiet there, either, and the only quiet he had before was Privet Drive, being locked in his room and starved. He wants to experience quiet without ab-neglect," she barely managed to correct herself. She noticed Lupin's eyes harden, but he thankfully remained silent.

"He's okay, though, right?" Molly asked fretfully, but seeming to accept that Harry wasn't going to the Burrow. The truth was that Harry wasn't okay-not by a long shot. He was suffering from the long-term effects of the Dursleys-both physically and mentally. However, he was the same as Molly was used to, so Tonks replied with a nod.

"Perhaps we should continue with the meeting," Dumbledore interrupted. With various groans and grumbles, everyone reluctantly returned to their seat.

* * *

At the end of the meeting, before Tonks could leave, she was grabbed by Lupin and dragged into a room where he quickly put up privacy wards. "How bad?" He growled.

Tonks was grateful that she had foreseen this as well, and had grudgingly-very grudgingly-received permission to confide in Remus if and only if he cornered her. She conjured two chairs and gestured for him to sit. Once he had, she hesitantly began by asking, "What do you know?"

He shrugged, never taking his eyes off of her, as he replied, "Not much. Only what you said this evening."

Tonks nodded, and forced herself to at least try and act professional. "Not surprising, abuse victims rarely, if ever, say anything. Some of what he told me was an accident, the rest I pressured him into. It wasn't very difficult, as he was beaten," her voice broke on the word, "if he didn't immediately comply with the Dursleys 'requests'."

Taking a deep breath, she revealed what she knew. "It started, like I said, when he attempted suicide," he voice broke on that word as well, and Lupin winced. "When I let him down, I accidentally knocked him out, and thought he was dead," she was openly crying now. "When I told his _relatives _my belief, they bloody started a celebration," she hissed angrily. "Fortunately, Harry woke up before I could begin their torture. I forced him to tell me what they did, knowing full well he would keep the worst hidden. Apparently, he did all the chores, such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry. But he was lucky if he got food, all of his clothes are hand-me-downs from Dudley, and they kept him in a cupboard under the stairs. They also didn't take him to the doctor's when things happened-like broken bones." The arms of the chair Remus was in cracked under his tight grip. The tears continued flowing, but Tonks's voice became detached and her eyes took on a far away look as she continued, "I learned one more horror before we went to bed; we were teasing each other when I went to playfully smack him. The way he flinched, I knew they had raised their hands to him constantly." Remus shattered the wooden arms of his chair, but Tonks didn't even flich, she just continued, detached. "I woke last night to the sound of screaming; Harry was having a nightmare. When I woke him, he was confused as to how I knew he had been having a nightmare. When I told him he had been screaming, he was already falling asleep and had his guard down. He told me it had only taken two broken bones before he had learned to have nightmares silently." Remus was growling with rage, but Tonks continued to be non-responsive. "This morning, when I hugged him, he winced when I rubbed his back. I forced him to show me his back, and found something I had only seen once before, years ago. You would think, since it was so long ago, that I would have forgotten. I wish I had. Unfortunately, scars from a belt are extremely difficult to forget. Some were recent, which was why he winced."

"I'll kill them," Remus snarled. "Slowly." Tonks just sat there impassively as he got up and turned his fury on the chair. After he got to the point where not even a reparo could fix the chair, he finally noticed that Tonks hadn't reacted. Calming slightly, he asked, "Tonks?" No response. He snapped his fingers in front of her. Still no response. _Shit, she's in shock,_ he thought. Typically, to bring someone out of shock, you would slap them. But Remus couldn't bring himself to hit her, and explaining this to someone would be impossible, so he set off a loud bang in her ear. Surprisingly, there was still no response. _Damn, I guess I'll need to slap her._ But he couldn't do it. Sure, he could playfully smack her if they were teasing, but he couldn't bring himself to all-out slap her.

After a few more moments to see if she would simply come out of it, he reluctantly went to find someone who could help. Just outside the door, Severus Snape stood. "I wish to speak to Nymphadora Tonks," he said, surprisingly polite, when the door opened.

"Good luck," Remus said. "She went into shock."

Snape stepped into the room, walked over to where Tonks was sitting, and smacked her gently. To the surprise of Remus, she reacted and seemed to come awake. "What are you doing here?" Tonks asked-not rudely, simply surprised.

"I wished to talk to you," he said simply, but still surprisingly polite.

"About what?" Tonks asked, hoping it wasn't what she suspected.

"About...Harry's abuse," he replied.

Both Tonks and Remus looked surprised that he used Harry's first name, but Tonks shook her head. "I can't. I promised to only tell Remus, and that was only if he cornered me."

"Did you make any promises about showing anyone?" He asked.

"No," Tonks replied, "but I would feel guilty about it. I didn't swear an oath, I simply promised. And I will keep my word."

"Why do you want to know, anyway, Severus?" Remus asked with far more heat than anyone had ever heard from him.

"I am...concerned," Snape admitted.

"Why?" Remus asked bluntly. "Want some new material to torture him with?"

Snape winced. "No. I would not torture him."

"Really?" Remus asked bitingly. "What would you call his Occlumency lessons, then?" Snape winced again, but didn't have an answer. "Why should I believe you?"

"I swear not to torture Harry James Potter in any way, and I swear I only asked out of concern. I also swear to tell no one," Snape said. To the surprise of the other two, there was a flash, signifying his honesty.

"It doesn't matter," Tonks said. "I will still keep my word and not tell-or show-anyone."

Snape nodded resignedly, and started to leave. Pausing at the door, he said, "Tell him...tell him I said I'm sorry. Please." He left, while the other two looked shocked at his use of a word they hadn't been sure he knew.

"That was surprising," Remus said after a moment.

"I second that," Tonks said. Standing, she said, "Well, I'm headed home to Harry." With that, she hugged Remus good-bye and apparated away.

"Tonks, I hope you didn't mean that the way it sounded," Remus said to the empty air.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to my beta, Inzainiac, for helping me with my numerous spelling/grammatical errors! And who should Hermione end up with in this fic?**


	5. Hermione

____

____

"Tonks, I hope you didn't mean that the way it sounded," Remus said to the empty air.

* * *

When Tonks left for the Order meeting, Harry was nearly hyperventilating with all the things he was worried might go wrong. After all, her boss was part of the Order, so all he had to do was threaten to fire her and she would be forced to cave. He didn't think that Kingsley would resort to that, but he couldn't know.

Then there was the worry of their new relationship combined with the Order meeting. What was their relationship? What would the Order do if they found out about it? How would his friends take it? Did he even care? It wasn't like they had tried to comfort him at all this summer.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Hermione, at least, usually tried to comfort him. Last summer was the exception, true, but he knew that she almost worshipped any authority figure, and Dumbledore especially, so disobeying just wasn't going to happen. But what about this summer? Did Dumbledore interfere again? He was going to have to ask Tonks when she got back.

Suddenly, his internal musings were cut short by a tapping on the window. "Hedwig!" He exclaimed, glad that his owl had returned to him. "You have a letter for me?" He asked, surprised and confused. Who had his owl gone to?

_Dear Harry,_

_I was very confused when Hedwig showed up at my house without a letter from you. But it was even more confusing when she wouldn't deliver a letter to you. Do you know what happened? Why wouldn't she deliver a letter to you? Today, she hooted at me, and held out her leg for a letter. What changed? I would have asked you earlier, but I don't have an owl._

_Anyway, I wanted to ask how you were handling everything. And to tell you not to blame yourself, since I know that you tend to do that. I know what you're going to say, and I know I warned you it was probably a trap, but I've been thinking about it this summer, by putting myself in your place. I asked myself what I would have done if I had had a vision of my parents being attacked, especially having had a previous vision that turned out to be true. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that nothing would have stopped me, especially if I was unable to reach them._

_I just wanted to tell you that I will always be here for you, and to never doubt that. You were my first friend, and I'll never abandon you._

_Love,  
Hermione_

Now Harry felt guilty for thinking his friends had abandoned him, especially when Hermione pointed out that she didn't have an owl. True, Ron hadn't written, but in all fairness, Ron didn't write much anyway, and it had only been a little over a week. Feeling better about the letter-and trying to take his mind off the Order meeting-Harry began a letter to Hermione. After discarding several attempts, he finally thought he had a good letter-after he gave Hedwig some treats, of course.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Hedwig left because I was so depressed, and I think I may have been ignoring her. I also think she hates the Dursleys, but I can't really blame her for that. What changed was that Tonks decided that I was beating myself up too much (as were the Dursleys) so she decided I was going to live with her for the summer. It's been really helpful talking to someone about Sirius, especially since he was her cousin, and therefore knows-to some extent-what I'm going through._

_I'm ashamed to admit that I thought you had abandoned me like last year. I had forgotten, somehow, that you don't have an owl. But what I'm feeling most right now is gratitude. I can't thank you enough for your support. You've always supported me, and I know you always will. Thank you. Yes, I still blame myself, but much less. I do share a part of the blame, but I'm beginning to recognize that it's far less than I originally blamed myself for thanks to Tonks, who is currently informing the Order that I'm not going back to Privet Drive._

_On another topic, I have a challenge for you. I recently found out that there is a spell that duplicates the effect of the full moon. It occurred to me that if there is a spell to duplicate its effect, why isn't there a spell to negate its effect? From what you told me of Arithmancy, I thought that you could take its formula and reverse it. Tonks told me that others have tried and failed, but I bet her that you could do it in a week. The incantation is plenus luna, and the wand movement is apparently just a jab in the air._

_Again, thank you for your support. I probably would have died numerous times without you. I can't wait to hear from you again._

_Love,  
Harry_

"Can you deliver this to Hermione and wait for a response?" He asked Hedwig as he tied the letter to her leg. The owl gave a very human-like nod and nipped his fingers affectionately-though it was a little harder than usual. He watched her fly away until she was just a speck, and turned around just in time for Tonks to pop into the room. Before he could say anything, he found himself being hugged tightly by a crying witch.

"What happened?" He asked, worried that something had gone wrong at the meeting. Tonks just shook her head and burrowed into his chest like a child seeking comfort from a parent. Harry, not having much experience with this, just held her and told her that everything was going to be okay, even if he had no clue what was wrong.

After a while, she calmed down and began to tell him about the Order meeting, followed by her meeting with Remus. She even included what happened with Snape, though she left out that he had slapped her, since she was pretty sure Harry would kill him even if it was to bring her out of shock. "But why were you crying?" Harry asked when she was done, confused.

"I _hate_ what those...those...those _freaks_ did to you," she seethed. "The temptation to just go over there and torture them is nearly overwhelming."

"Don't," he whispered in her ear. "They're not worth it. You saved me, remember? Besides, they're suffering from karma now."

"True," she said. "Especially once Remus gets through with them, since I _accidentally_ forgot to mention my revenge."

"I hope he doesn't do anything too bad," Harry said, worried. At the incredulous expression on her face he explained, "Not for their sake, but for his. I wouldn't want him to feel guilty later on."

Tonks snorted. "I doubt he would. And, as a Marauder, I'm sure he'll come up with something more fitting. He might even discover what I did and add to it somehow."

"How?" Harry asked, curious.

"How should I know, I'm not a Marauder!" Tonks said.

"No, but after your karma spells, I have to say you're just as devious."

"I try," she drawled with a mock pompous attitude.

Harry laughed at her antics for a moment, but then grew serious. "We still need to talk about...stuff...don't we?" He asked hesitantly. Tonks nodded and reluctantly pulled away from him to lead him to the couch that was a bed, and was now a couch again. _Wow, that's confusing even in my head,_ Harry thought as he sat down.

"Harry, I have been seducing you," Tonks said once they sat down. She raised her hand to forestall an argument. "I know you don't see it, but that's what I was doing. I may not have been doing it on purpose, but it's what I was doing."

"Tonks, you were _flirting_," Harry said. "I've seen people do it all the time. You're only calling it seduction because I'm younger than you," he pointed out. "If you did the same thing to someone the same age as you or older, would you still call it seduction?" He asked insightfully.

Tonks wanted to say yes, just because she was sure she was right, but she forced herself to truly think about what he said. After a while, she finally admitted, "No, I wouldn't."

"Exactly," he said triumphantly. "Besides, if you were truly trying to seduce me, you would turn yourself into most teenage males' fantasy."

"Most?" Tonks asked, curious to see if he thought he had the same fantasies.

"Most," Harry confirmed. "First off, some are gay. Second, there are a few people who don't have a specific type, they just want someone to love who loves them. In case you don't follow, I fall into the second category," he said with a grin.

Tonks gave an exaggerated sigh of relief as she tried to ignore the pain and sadness that was just behind that smile. "After that kiss this morning, I was worried you might be gay," she teased.

Of course, Harry didn't get it. "Was it really that bad?" He asked with a frown.

_Every time I turn around, I find another reason to hate the Dursleys,_ Tonks thought to herself angrily. _He doesn't even know when he's just being teased!_ "I was just teasing, Harry," Tonks said aloud, managing to maintain a smile.

"Oh," Harry said. "How was it?" He asked, trying-and failing-to hide how nervous he was.

"Relax," Tonks said reassuringly. "Before I answer, how many times have you kissed before that? Not counting the ones I gave you this morning," she added.

"Why does that matter?" Harry asked, surprised and slightly guarded.

_So I know who my competition is,_ she thought to herself. Aloud, she said, "Based on how many times you've kissed before, I can tell you where you should be versus where you are. Or, basically, how good you are for your lack of experience," she said in a mock professor voice. It was a bit ruined by the smile, but Harry answered anyway.

"Technically, I've kissed once."

"Only once?" Tonks asked, very confused. "Who?"

"Why does that matter?" Harry asked, teasingly.

"Well, I have to know my competition, don't I?" Tonks responded, also in a teasing voice.

Harry, however, had been brought up in a violent environment. He had been forced to learn how to detect anger or fear, as they often led to beatings. Right now, he could detect a hint of fear behind Nymphadora's teasing. "Nymphadora," he said gently, "please tell me what you're afraid of."

"What makes you think I'm afraid?" She asked, surprised he had known.

"When the Dursleys were afraid, they had a lot of nervous energy," Harry began quietly and in a way that made Tonks know she wasn't going to like this. "They would say how I was using my 'freakishness' to make them afraid. Then they'd find some way to hurt me. The luckiest I could get was it wasn't during school vacation; then they'd only bruise me, and where it couldn't be seen. In other words, I learned how to detect fear quickly." By the time he had finished, he couldn't look at Nymphadora, and she had her hand over her mouth with tears running down her face. She couldn't even remember what he had asked her. After a moment of silence, he turned to her and asked again, "Please tell me what you're afraid of?"

At that moment, with Harry's eyes on her, Nymphadora couldn't deny him anything. She knew that reliving that must have been painful, but the main emotion in his eyes was caring, causing her to blurt out, "I hope it's not Hermione." Her cheeks flushed at the admission, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the emerald ones that held her. Then Harry smiled a smile that was filled with amusement.

Before she could say anything, Harry explained, "No, it's not Hermione. I kissed Cho. But I was laughing because Cho broke up with me over some kind of jealousy having to do with Hermione."

_Oh, good, the one girl he spends more time with than any other is the cause of a break-up of his,_ Tonks thought despairingly. _And he doesn't even care! He loves her, and has no idea,_ she thought sadly-sad for both herself and Harry. Only moments had passed outside her head, and she asked aloud, "What happened?"

"Hermione made me promise to meet her at the Three Broomsticks that Hogsmeade weekend," Harry explained. "She knew I was going to be on a date, so I knew it must have been important and I agreed." _Great,_ Tonks thought, _she loves him, too!_ Harrry continued, unaware of Nymphadora's internal conflict. "To be honest, I didn't mind after seeing Madam Puddifoot's. But when I told Cho I promised to meet Hermione, she got really upset and left. I guess, though, that it wasn't really a break-up since we were never truly going out," he ended thoughtfully.

Tonks nodded, but was busy having an internal conflict. _I have to let him go,_ she told herself. _He loves Hermione and, from the way she broke up his date, she loves him. Yeah, _another part of her argued, _but he could grow to love you. But it's not like I love him!_ She argued back. _No but you could grow to,_ the part that wanted Harry pointed out. _Yes we _could_ both grow to love each other, but the key word is _could, she pointed out to her alter-ego. _Ask him what he thinks,_ it retorted back. The thought of talking to Harry about this scared the crap out of her, but she knew that someone needed to. Taking a deep breath, she said gently, "Harry, we can't be together." She flinched at the pain that flared in his eyes, but knew she was right.

"Why?" Harry asked. He had thought, when he let her think, that she would realize he had just done what he had promised, and that she had nothing to be jealous of.

"You love Hermione," Nymphadora stated simply. Harry immediately started to protest, but she raised her hand, continuing, "And Hermione loves you."

"I love her as my sister," Harry said, "And she probably loves me like a brother. So why can't you and I be together?"

"If she only loves you like a brother, why did she purposely set something up when you had a date, quite probably knowing it would cause a break-up, and why don't you care in the slightest that you broke up?" She asked him gently.

"To be honest, I didn't know Cho that well," Harry said. "But Hermione might have. It's possible that-assuming our 'break-up' was intentional-she knew we wouldn't really work, and that I'm too stubborn to listen, so she broke us up to prevent me getting hurt. Also, the person she had me meet didn't go to Hogwarts, so could only meet us in Hogsmeade," Harry said, thinking his way through it, "So it's probable that the 'break-up' was _not_ intentional," he concluded.

Tonks smiled sadly, but shook her head. "Harry, look at the influence she's had on you. If you had continued to be friendless, would you have been able to reason that out?" She asked.

"No, because without her friendship, I'd have died in first year," he said quietly. "But the same could be said for Ron," he pointed out. Standing up, he said quietly, unable to look at her, "If you don't like me, you can just say so." Before she could answer, he disappeared into the bathroom.

A few moments after the door closed, a stunned Tonks felt the silencing charm he cast. She didn't even stop to think about his privacy, but cast a quick finite on it. In fact, she never thought about his privacy, because the sobs she heard broke her heart. Without even thinking-again-she ran to the bathroom and threw open the door; ignoring the wand had pointed at her already, she swept him up and kissed him. A hard, demanding, passionate kiss.

It took Harry a few moments, but after the shock wore off, hormones took over and he kissed Nymphadora back with an equal fervor. When they finally broke for air, Harry asked hopefully, "Does this mean you're giving us a chance?"

Nymphadora sighed, but smiled and nodded. "I'm giving us a chance."

* * *

**A/N: As usual, thanks to Inzainiac for his help!  
In reference to the Hermione thing, many people have asked that I place her in a relationship with both Harry and Tonks. I was hesitant to do so, mostly because I can't find a feasible way for Tonks or Hermione to be willing to share, and I believe Harry would feel guilty for not being able to give each his undivided attention. So,at the moment, Harry is correct. However, if someone could give me a good way to make it happen, I'll have them all share.**


	6. Another Bet

__

Nymphadora sighed, but smiled and nodded. "I'm giving us a chance."

* * *

  
While Harry and Nymphadora were reaffirming their relationship, Hermione was receiving a letter from Hedwig that caused her to smile_. _Her mother, recognizing the snowy white owl that delivered said letter, asked what Harry had to say as she sat down at the dining room table.

"He says he's feeling better," Hermione said happily. "Tonks is apparently helping him with the loss of Sirius, and it will probably be even more effective than anyone else since he was her cousin. She was the metamorphmagus you met last year," she reminded her mother at the look of confusion.

Emma nodded, remembering the pink-haired woman who had changed her hair-style out of boredom when the man with all the scars had constantly told them where and how they were going with liberal use of the phrase, "Constant vigilance!" She and her husband knew everything that had gone on in the last five years at Hogwarts, but Hermione refused point blank to leave. Despite their nearly paralyzing worry for their daughter, it was undeniable that she was happier there, so they reluctantly-very reluctantly-allowed her to continue there. There was one thing that had her confused, though. From the way Hermione talked about Tonks and Harry, it was clear she thought they were together. "I thought you liked Harry?" She asked her daughter.

"I love Harry," Hermione said, "but I'm not _in_ love with him. He's more like my brother, thankfully with less fighting than many siblings." She would never admit it, but at one point she had, in fact, liked Harry. But when she feared he would not return the feelings, she treated him like a brother. Eventually, she truly felt like they were siblings.

"Does that mean you like Ron?" Her mother asked.

"No!" Hermione answered firmly, along with a full-body shudder. "He's obsessed with Quidditch and chess, but absolutely hates studying and school. I love studying and school, but find Quidditch pointless. Chess is okay, but not to the level Ron takes it. Plus, we fight way too much for it to ever work. I'd probably kill him in a week."

Emma mentally gave a sigh of relief; she had suspected that her daughter was going to end up with either Harry or Ron, but considering how Ron belittled everything Hermione loved, she had believed it would be Harry. Since that was apparently not an option, she had dreaded what a relationship with Ron would do to her daughter who already lacked self-confidence and didn't need a boyfriend telling her that what she did was wrong. "So who do you like, dear?" Emma asked, planning on having some girl gossip.

Hermione blushed scarlet as a figure with blonde hair came to mind, stuttering to her mother, "No-no one." Eager to get out of the conversation, Hermione quickly said, "I have to pen a reply to Harry," before rushing to her room to do just that-and wonder why an image of Daphne Greengrass had flashed across her mind at her mother's question.

* * *

Harry and Tonks were sitting down to a delicious dinner of shepherd's pie when Hedwig tapped on the window. "Let's see what Hermione said," Harry said happily. "I'll bet you five galleons she figured out we're together, and that she's happy for us," Harry suggested slyly.

Tonks thought about it for a minute before asking, "Are they separate bets?" Harry nodded. "Five galleons each?" Another nod. Tonks took another moment to ponder, before deciding, "I won't take the first bet, because I remember how smart Hermione is, but I look forward to winning my money back on the second one." Harry laughed and shook hands with her before opening the letter and reading it aloud.

_"Dear Harry,_

_"I'm glad to hear that someone rescued you from the Dursley's, and that she's helping you cope with everything. Are you two a couple yet? If not, talk to Tonks. While we were at Grimmauld Place during Christmas, I saw her giving you several glances, and she was very worried about you hiding out. I think she might like you the way you like her. When you do get together, tell her that she will regret it if she hurts you (no one hurts my brother!), but she has my blessing._

_"Everything here is going well, but it's very boring. As usual, my parents are trying to talk me out of going back to Hogwarts because of all the danger. I understand their concern, but they don't seem to understand that, although the dangers are greater, my ability to protect myself is also greater. I wish they would understand, but I know that they can't._

_"Sorry for the rant, but I needed to vent and Ron would be useless. Anyway, I hope you and Tonks are well._

_"Love,_  
_Hermione_

_"P.S. I know I said Tonks better not hurt you, but you better not hurt her, either! Take care of each other. Also, you should try and either get Tonks assigned as a bodyguard or the new teacher so you can continue the relationship. Be warned, though, either way you'll have to hide your relationship._

_"P.P.S. I can't solve the Full Moon spell without the Arithmatic equation. If you have it, could you please send it to me?"_

Harry set down the letter, looked at the expression on Nymphadora's face, and promptly started laughing. She went from shocked at the letter, to glaring at Harry before giving a groan. "If I had taken the first bet and not the second, I would have made my money back!"

Harry took a few more moments to calm himself down before replying, "Yep! But look on the upside; I was right, and you have nothing to fear from Hermione," he said tenderly, kissing her on the forehead.

"True," Tonks conceded, suddenly happy. "I'm glad to be wrong, for once," she said before pulling him in for a very passionate kiss. "Now let's eat," she said after releasing Harry.

It took Harry a few moments to recover from the kiss (and 'adjust'), but once he did, he pouted, muttering something about a 'teasing minx' before sitting back down to eat.

* * *

After a filling meal (and a chaste kiss) the two went to bed, Harry going to the couch again, and Tonks, of course, going to her bedroom. Her sleep, though, was hardly restful, as she once more woke to the sound of Harry's screams.

Like last night, she hurried into the living room where Harry was tossing and turning. She could hear only the occasional word, but since they were mostly "sorry," "Sirius," "Cedric," and "my fault," she had no trouble guessing what he was dreaming about. Although she wanted to wake him up, she realized that these dreams were coming frequently, so she would have to find a better way to help than keeping him awake all the time. Instead, she crawled among the thrashing limbs and simply wrapped her arms around him. It only took a few minutes for him to settle down, and soon Tonks found his arms around her. Her last thought before falling asleep put a smile on her face. _I'm sleeping with Harry Potter!_

* * *

The next morning, Harry woke to find his hands on inappropriate places on his girlfriend's body _again!_ This morning, however, he didn't move. Instead, he took the time to look at his girlfriend while she slept. She had been staying in her natural form inside the flat since he had asked her to change, and he enjoyed seeing her that way. Not simply because she looked beautiful, but because it felt private and intimate. He doubted anyone but her parents had seen her natural form in years, and the thought of her sharing it with him left him feeling touched.

While he was deep in thought, the subject of his thoughts was opening her eyes. When she reached out to put a hand on his cheek, he jumped, surprised. "You're awake!" He exclaimed needlessly.

Tonks rolled her eyes at him. "You have green eyes," she deadpanned. "Any other obvious facts you care to mention this morning?" She asked sarcastically-but lightly.

Harry blushed crimson, but nodded with a teasing smile. "Sure, I don't have a problem stating something obvious," he said. "Here's something: you're beautiful."

Nymphadora blushed lightly at the praise, but cheekily asked, "Is that why your hands are all over me?" As he blushed, pulled his hands back, and attempted to stutter an apology, she couldn't help but feel that something was going to go wrong that day, despite how well it was starting.

* * *

While Nymphadora and Harry were saying good morning, Albus Dumbledore was pacing in his office after a sleepless night, trying to figure out how to fix things. Everything had been going perfectly, Harry was beat down and living with his abusive relatives, most likely willing to die. He was the perfect sacrifice. Unable to kill himself due to prophecy, but unwillling to succeed due to depression. Now he was training, preparing. How could things go wrong? How was Dumbledore supposed to became the greatest Light wizard since Merlin again?

His plan had been foolproof. The first step took over a decade; get Harry Potter beaten down, weak, and unsure. The second step was ensuring he made no attempt to change by ensuring he became friends with that layabout Weasley. The third step was to ensure that Voldemort killed the little brat, making him mortal. Finally, Dumbledore steps in and kills him, ensuring his name would go down in history as the only wizard to ever defeat two Dark Lords. Even Merlin had only defeated Morganna.

What had gone wrong?

The worst part was, he couldn't think of a way to fix things. As a metamorphmagus, Tonks was completely immune to mental manipulations, as was Harry. Not that it mattered if Harry was, since he wouldn't even be able to reach the lad without Tonks or her father. He paused in his pacing.

Her father.

Nymphadora may be immune to mental manipulations, but her father wasn't. Besides, it wouldn't even take mental manipulations. He smiled, a plan forming in his mind.

* * *

**A/N: I apologize for taking so long. In my defense, two of my family members needed surgery, so I was more than a bit stressed.**

**In other news, thanks to my beta, Inzainiac, for fixing my mistakes as usual. (Any mistakes in the last section are all mine as I wanted to keep that part a surprise!)**

**And in case no one guessed, this story is staying strictly Harry/Tonks.**


	7. A Phoenix

_Nymphadora may be immune to mental manipulations, but her father wasn't. Besides, it wouldn't even take mental manipulations. He smiled, a plan forming in his mind._

* * *

Nymphadora surprised Harry by making him do physical exercise. It wasn't that he had a problem with it, he had simply noticed that most witches and wizards didn't excrcise. When he mentioned this to Tonks, she laughed.

"It's true," she said, "Most wizards and witches don't exercise, sadly including most aurors. Especially purebloods. But it gives you an advantage when duelling. You don't want to shield in a duel, as someone might overpower it, or throw an unforgivable, and it takes magical energy. My goal is to build up your endurance and heighten your reflexes so you can dodge quickly and keep dodging. Obviously, if you're surrounded, you may have to shield, but I would suggest apparating, portkeys, or simply throwing yourself to the ground followed by incapacitating your opponents in some way. However, we won't be getting to magic advanced enough to work in that situation for a while. Now let's see how long you can run without running out of breath or dropping from exhaustion," she said, expanding the living room and moving her items to the center.

As Harry ran, he let his mind wander, though it mostly stayed on Tonks. When he got to thinking about her flat, a question he'd been meaning to ask sprang to mind and he called out, "Hey, Tonks!" When she looked at him, he asked, "If your father is the Secret-Keeper for this place, how can I be here?"

"Because I own it," she answered simply. When he continued to look at her inquisitively, she explained, "The owners of objects under the Fidelius are also Secret-Keepers. If they weren't, the misuse of muggle artifacts would have much bigger problems since purebloods who believe that they're better than muggles would put muggle houses and even businesses under it so they couldn't be found." She decided not to mention that his parents would also have been their own Secret-Keepers.

Harry nodded thoughtfully at the explanation, still running. _It makes sense,_ he thought. _It would certainly explain why my parents chose someone else as their Secret-Keeper,_ he thought sadly.

Harry was broken from his musings when he noticed something approaching from the corner of his eye. Without thinking, he dived away from the spell and launched a stunner in the direction it came from, forgetting he didn't have his wand. He sprang up, ready to fight, only to find that the victim of his stunner was Tonks. Running his hand through his hair, he went to revive her, only to finally notice that he didn't have his wand. Frowning, he decided that if he could stun someone wandlessly, he could rouse them wandlessly. But first...

* * *

When Tonks awoke, it was to Harry looking at her with an iciness she'd never seen from him before. "That was unexpected," she sighed.

"Is there a reason you attacked me?" Harry asked, hiding his hurt behind an icy front. The first person to help him away from the Dursleys, and she attacks him. But she could easily have attacked him while he was asleep, so he was allowing her to explain.

Tonks attempted to stand, only to realize she was in some type of modified body-bind. "Hermione, came up with this, I presume?" Tonks asked. Harry gave a curt nod, still waiting on the explanation. Tonks quickly did a mental scan of her body, finding that she was fine and, surprisingly still had her wand. Looking up, she realized that Harry still didn't have his. "Harry, do you realize you did wandless magic?" She asked excitedly. Harry hid a confused frown, and merely nodded curtly again. Calming herself down, Tonks realized she needed to focus and explain things to Harry, since his trust of people was very low, and her spell would undo what little she had gained from rescuing him from the Dursleys. "Did you also realize that you were running for over a half an hour without tiring?"

She finally gained a verbal response, "Dudley's favorite game was Harry Hunting, I've run for a lot longer than that as his gang tried to herd me into a spot to trap me."

"I should have hexed them more seriously," she muttered, furthering Harry's confusion. "I'm sorry, Harry. I'm not used to people who have faced quite so much and have become as jumpy. Even Moody has seen less. I should have asked before casting that spell at you. Considering how long you had been running, I thought it was possible that you might be using magic to help yourself out accidentally. It's still possible, but I still should have asked," she explained contritely.

Harry looked like he wanted to believe her, but was wary. "There's a spell that can do that?"

"Sort of," she explained. "What it does is tell your magical level when it's filled, and what it is at that moment. If it kept going down, I would have known that you were using magic. If it stayed the same, you weren't."

"What's the spell?" He asked, still careful.

"_Specto nomen,_" she enunciated clearly, sure that he would try it on her and not wanting to find out what would happen if he did it wrong.

He nodded, focusing, and cast the spell. When the blue beam struck Tonks, she seemed to absorb it for a moment, before 76/80 flashed beside her head for a few moments. Tonks watched as a relieved smile crossed his face before some other emotion did. Before she could figure it out, he had made his expression neutral and undid the body bind on her, and helping her up. Pulling her into a hug, he whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry."

Nymphadora _loathed_ how broken he sounded and refused to allow it to continue. "There's nothing to apologize for. My goal was to get your reflexes that high. I should have known you'd already be there," she tried to tease. "Now I just have to check if you were using magic to help yourself out, and, if you were, figure out how to prevent it, or, if you weren't, continue onto spells." Harry nodded against her shoulder before stepping back. She could see his urge to move out of the way, so cast the spell quickly. "Holy Merlin!" She exclaimed, staring at the numbers. Harry just stared, thinking, _Great, something else that sets me apart._ Floating between him and Tonks were the numbers 150/150/300/300.

Putting aside his desire for normalcy for the moment, he asked Tonks, "Why are there four numbers?"

"I only know of one reason they could be there, but it can't be right," she said still staring at the numbers.

"Which means it probably is, because it's me," Harry sighed.

Tonks shook her head. "No, Harry, I mean it actually _can't_ be possible. Parents place magical blocks on their kids all the time, because magic has a tendency to react to emotion, and kids are basically bundles of emotion. But they're designed to fade by the time you're eight. That would mean someone altered or placed a new one on you, leaving you access to only half your power. Although since half for you is roughly twice the average adult wizard and you're still maturing, it's not that big a deal magically speaking. The problem is, you're magic will naturally try to break through that barrier. That can cause your magic to be unstable, and even cause you to go mad."

"Huh," he said. "So the Prophet might actually be right."

"How can you joke about this?" Nymphadora said, clearly panicking.

"I have a homicidal maniac after me, this kind of pales in comparison," Harry said.

"Not quite," Nymphadora said biting her lip. "There is one other possibility." Harry looked at her waiting for her to explain. "If your magic _does_ break through," she began hesitantly, "the half that you haven't had access to will clash violently with the half that you have had access to, causing an explosion. The average witch or wizard would take out an entire house if that happened. You could take out an entire block. In fact, that will happen if you die with the block still in place."

Harry thought about the problem. _Who would bind my power?_ He thought. _Voldemort would if he couldn't kill me, but each time we've met he's tried to kill me, not expecting to fail, so he's not an option._ Harry was running through a list of Death Eaters he thought had an opportunity to pull it off, when the thought of an explosion finally caught up with him.

Tonks watched Harry as he rapidly paled. She thought she heard him say something about, '...manipulate...whole time...' but she couldn't be sure. "Harry?" She asked.

"Who would expect to want to place a block on me?" Harry asked.

"You-Know-Who or his Death Eaters," she answered immediately.

"Really?" Harry asked despairingly. "His name is Voldemort, or Tom Marvolo Riddle, if you prefer. I also call him Snakeface, Moldyshorts, or the Dark Wanker, though," he ended with a slight smile, enjoying the shock on Tonks face before he got back to the conversation at hand. "If Snakeface or his Death Eaters could have placed a block on my magic, then Moldyshorts would have killed me and his little nibblers would have brought me to him." Nymphadora nodded with a frown, ignoring the nicknames for Voldemort for the moment. "However, if someone knew I was going to have face Voldemort, and wanted or expected me to lose, they might plan it so if I die, he dies. And there's only one person who had enough access to me and knew before you that could have done it."

Tonks thought about it, paled, and then turned red in anger. Normally, Harry would have been amused, since her eyes and hair changed with her, but he knew she was figuring it out. "Dumbledore," she hissed, not needing Harry's nod for confirmation. Although Snape also had access to him, Harry would have been on the lookout for anything from him. He would have had no need to watch Dumbledore. "But what about Fawkes?" She asked aloud. "Phoenixes are creatures of pure good, even if not necessarily light, and I've only seen him flame to Dumbledore without someone telling him to go to him, indicating that they're bonded."

"He flamed to me, too, and Dumbledore couldn't have known I would need the help at the time," Harry reminded Tonks.

Tonks stared at Harry, working on the problem in her mind. If Fawkes flamed to Harry, that meant they were bonded. But phoenixes were bound to people at birth, knowing who would need them next. That meant that Fawkes couldn't be bound to Dumbledore. Unless he... "He wouldn't!" Nymphadora exclaimed, outraged at the 'leader of the light'. Harry was trying to find out what was going on, but Tonks was still thinking. _It's the only thing that makes sense, and if anyone could do it, Dumbledore could._ The thought made her sick. "I looked up to him," she whispered.

"What are you talking about? What wouldn't Dumbledore do?" Harry asked, growing impatient.

"Harry, what do you know about Phoenixes?"

Harry thought about it before answering, "I know they can 'flame' to people, carry very heavy loads, cry healing tears, live forever, and that they have burning days where they're reborn."

Tonks nodded, entering the same teaching mode she had had when explaining things to him earlier. "Your first answer is only partially correct; phoenixes can only 'flame' to people they're bonded to. A phoenix will automatically know when someone they are bound to is born, and will remain with that person until they have helped fulfill whatever purpose that person has. After that, they move on as soon as the next bondmate, as they're called, is born. That means that Dumbledore most likely performed some very Dark magic to keep Fawkes bound and under his control," she finished sadly, before brightening. "There is good news, though. Phoenixes can only be fully bound to one person, which means he is partially bound to both of you. If you can complete the bond somehow, it should break Dumbledore's bond."

"How do I do that?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "Ask Fawkes."

"Fawkes?" Harry asked, surprised, not sure how the bird would answer him.

To his surprise, though, it wasn't Tonks who answered, but Fawkes. 'Flaming' right through the wards around the house and onto Harry's shoulder, Harry 'heard' Fawkes 'say', _Thank you, Harry._

Harry responded with an intelligent, "Huh?"

The phoenix on his shoulder let out a trill that sounded like laughter, brightening both people's moods. _You have completed the bond, freeing me at last,_ he said, stretching his wings as though for emphasis.

"How did I do that?" Harry asked.

_By recognizing the bond,_ the phoenix answere simply, folding its wings back against its back. _Also, my name is no longer Fawkes. My name is now Wolfe._

"Why'd you change your name?" Harry asked. He couldn't help but notice that he'd been in a state of confusion since Fawkes-err, Wolfe-had arrived.

The phoenix let out another trill to indicate laughter, and explained, _Like all phoenixes, I change my name with each companion. Many will do it based on something they enjoy, and I find I enjoy the company of other animals, as they have a simplicity about them that makes them content. I simply tweak the spelling a bit because it's fun._

"So why were you Fawkes and now Wolfe? Do you choose the animals you 'tweak' at random, or is there a reason?" Harry asked.

_There's a reason,_ Wolfe said. _I choose based upon personality. Dumbledore,_ if it was possible, Wolfe spat his former companion's name, _was always sneaky, he just used it for good. Now, he has grown addicted to power, stealing it from me to lengthen his own life, not to mention the power boost he got from being bonded to a phoenix._

"Hold on," Harry interrupted. "Are you saying I'm now more powerful?" He asked with a groan.

Before Wolfe could answer, Nymphadora, who'd been listening to Harry without interrupting, (though constantly muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'Only Harry Potter') cast the spell to reveal magical power again. The numbers 225/225/450/450 floated in the air. Harry groaned again, asking Tonks, "What effect will this have on the block?"

"None," Nymphadora answered simply.

_Because I can remove it,_ Wolfe answered, but he sounded sad.

"Before I ask why you're sad, can you tell me why you picked the wolf? Or, rather, how I'm similar to a wolf?" Harry asked what was apparently his phoenix.

_Phoenix _companion_,_ Wolfe inserted, sounding angry. _I am not a possession._

"I'm sorry," Harry said contritely. "I didn't mean it that way."

_I know,_ said Wolfe, calming down. _But I didn't correct Albus, and he ended up viewing that way._ Before Harry could apologize again, Wolfe said, _Like the wolf, you are a family creature; it's the thing you treasure above all else, and you would do anything for those you considered family. You're also quick to anger, take too long to trust someone new, and forgive too easily once you trust._

"What do you mean?" Who did he forgive too easily?

_Ronald Weasley,_ the phoenix projected angrily. _He abandoned you last year and constantly insulted you, but you forgave him at the drop of a hat._

"He apologized," Harry protested.

_No, he apologized for not believing you,_ Wolfe corrected. _He never said anything about insulting you. He's also believed you were evil since second year, and only hangs around with you because Dumbledore has paid him to since the parseltongue incident in exchange for information. _While Harry was stunned, Wolfe continued, _He attempted to do the same to Hermione, but when she grew affronted and refused, he obliviated her._

"At least one of my friends is actually my friend," Harry muttered, just loud enough for Tonks to hear.

"What do you mean, Harry?" Tonks asked, not understanding what he meant.

"Apparently, Dumbledore has been bribing Ron to spy on me since second year," Harry informed her bitterly. "What about the rest of the Weasleys?" He asked Wolfe.

_Molly encourages Ron to spy on you for Dumbledore, but the rest of the Weasleys are alright, though Ginny has been told of the marriage contract between you._

"Marriage contract?" Harry nearly yelled, completely shocked.

_Indeed,_ Wolfe confirmed sadly. _There are three ways to negate. One, if either of you goes to prison. Two, if either of you dies. And three, if you're already married. The marriage must take place before your eighteenth birthday to negate the contract. If that happens, though, Ginny will be happy for you, because she actually loves Dean Thomas. Luna, Neville, Tonks, and Lupin are also true friends to you._

"Wait, go back for a minute," Harry said. "You mean Percy is actually a good Weasley?"

_Yes,_ Wolfe confirmed. _He overheard Ron saying to his mum how he didn't want to be near you, and Molly saying that they needed the money from Dumbledore. It's why he left, and the letter to Ron was actually a very vague warning to you. He was a bit too secretive for his own good, as there was no way you could possibly have figured out that was a warning to you._

"I think I'll talk to Ron in parseltongue from now on," Harry said vindictively.

"Harry, what's going on?" Nymphadora asked worriedly.

"Just a minute, Nym, I have one more question for Wolfe, and then I'll tell you what he's told me." Turning to said phoenix, he asked, "Why were you sad about being able to break the block on my magic?"

_Because it will hurt,_ Wolfe said morosely. _Worse than the cruciatus. I'll have to force myself into a burning day on top of you to burn the dark magic out of you, so you'll have a major burn until I can heal you, since it would be beyond a wizard's magic to heal. But the part that will really hurt is when the block breaks. Every muscle in your body will clench and unclench, most likely ripping themselves from your bones._

"Uh...I-I'll pass, thanks," Harry said, considerably more pale than when they had started this very enlightening conversation.

_Then you must die,_ Wolfe said sadly. _Dumbledore hid it from you, but you have a piece of Voldemort's soul in you. As long as you live, he cannot die. It will hurt, but other than you dying it is the only way to get it out of you._

"Will a body bind help?" Harry asked desperately.

_No other magic can interfere when I do this,_ Wolfe informed him.

"Damn," Harry muttered.

Turning to Nymphadora, he recounted the entire conversation, and soon found his arms full of a crying metamorphmagus. "Is life always this exciting around you?" She asked after a few minutes of being comforted by Harry.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, but I'm beginning to wonder just how much is engineered by Dumbledore."

_All of it, except the Triwizard Tournament. That surprised him,_ Wolfe helpfully informed his companion.

Harry sighed, sharing the new information with Tonks. "The next time I see that bastard, he's feeling pain," she seethed when she heard the shitty hand Dumbledore had forced upon Harry.

Unfortunately for one Albus Dumbledore, he chose that moment to apparate to the flat of Nymphadora Tonks.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to Inzainiac for correcting my mistakes, as usual!  
To be honest, this chapter surprised me. I had absolutely no intention of including Fawkes. I'm just glad I didn't leave it on a cliffhanger.**


	8. Interrogation

__

__

_Unfortunately for one Albus Dumbledore, he chose that moment to apparate to the flat of Nymphadora Tonks._

* * *

Albus Dumbledore knew that some of what he had done would be considered evil, and he contemplated that as he headed up the drive to 6 Kylar St. the home of Andromeda and Theodore Tonks, Nymphadora's parents.

He started with what people's first argument would be; that he knew the prophecy but didn't train Harry. What was he supposed to train him in? The prophecy stated it would be a 'power he knows not'. How do you train someone who has some unnamed power?

Sending him to the Dursleys to be abused was the other one people would jump on. Even if he had no idea that the Dursleys would abuse him, he had someone watching who told him. The truth that he sent him there to be weak and easy to kill wouldn't go down well, but it had to be done. Harry had a piece of Voldemort's soul in him, and until he died, Voldemort couldn't be killed. The binding on his power merely enabled both to happen simultaneously. If Voldemort managed to shield himself, then Dumbledore killed him while he was weak. He hated that people would always say, "the greatest wizard since Merlin." He wanted people to say, "even better than Merlin," and later, about someone else, "the greatest wizard since Dumbledore."

He was so busy with his musings that it took him a few minutes to realize he was stopped and staring at a door blankly. Realizing he had probably been there for some length of time, he rang the doorbell. Ted Tonks opened the door, looking surprised to see Dumbledore. "Come on in, Headmaster," he said, stepping aside.

"Thank you, Theodore," Dumbledore said kindly. "I came about your daughter," he started. Seeing the look on the younger man's face, he reassured him, "No, she's fine. I was just hoping to contact her, and she mentioned that if that need arose, I should come to you."

"What do you need to contact her about?" He asked cautiously. "You just had an Order meeting last night," he pointed out.

"Oh, this has nothing to do with the Order," Dumbledore said jovially, while inwardly seething that he knew so much. "Sometimes it just does an old man good to see the young, and remember why we're fighting," he quickly made up. "I was also hoping to get her to utilize her talents this year at Hogwarts. As usual, we need a new defense professor, and I remember how good she was at dueling." Complimenting a parent's child would always help.

"Yes, she was," he agreed fondly. "I'll send her a letter to tell her you stopped by," he said.

Albus was getting fed up with the man. Casting a quick compulsion charm, he said, "I would offer to save you the trouble, but I don't know the address."

The man looked surprised, and quickly offered it. Forcing himself not to roll his eyes at how easily susceptible to charms the man was, he offered a polite, "Thank you," and asked if he could apparate directly from the house. It was the polite thing to do, after all.

Now he just needed to find a way to convince Harry and Nymphadora that he knew what was best.

* * *

Severus Snape was pacing his office, and thinking of someone he often thought of; one Harry James Potter. The difference was, his thoughts didn't involve blood and some rather dark curses. No, right now his thoughts were how to make it up to the boy. If only he had actually tried to teach the boy Occlumency, then he might have had some idea! But no, instead he had tortured him with images of Cedric's death, Ginny lying in the Chamber of Secrets, and other things he knew the boy had seen. If he had actually tried, it wouldn't have taken long to find out how he grew up. He grimaced, realizing he had acted like a petulant child and held a grudge. Even worse, he had held that grudge against an innocent child. Well, not anymore! When he next saw Tonks, he would offer his help with potions and Occlumency-for real this time. Then, once he knew the extent of Harry's treatment, he would show those muggles what a Slytherin wizard could do.

* * *

Remus Lupin was surveying the house of his prey. They might not know they were his prey, but it would not be over once they did. He considerd giving them the life of hell that was a werewolf. The two males probably wouldn't even be able to afflict anyone since they were so fat their legs probably wouldn't reach the ground. However, the increased strength, stamina, and speed would not be a good thing for someone with the Dursleys' disposition, so he eventually decided against it.

He gave a feral grin as plans began to form in his mind. No one messed with his cub.

* * *

Three other people were also contemplating Harry Potter and his treatment at the hands of his relatives. Minerva McGonagall, Poppy Pomfrey, and Rubeus Hagrid were all getting supremely drunk as they discussed it. They may not know the exact treatment, but claiming that the cruciatus was worse told them it was more than neglect.

"I warned Albus," Minerva said, tears running down her cheeks unchecked. "I told him that they were the worst sort of muggles I could imagine."

"I shoulda given 'im to Black," Hagrid sobbed. "Tha's where 'e shoulda gone, anyway. But Dumbledore assured me 'e knew wha' 'e was doin'."

Poppy was the most drunk, and, for the first time in her life, she disregarded her patient's privacy. "He did know," she slurred. "I report anything unusual in my patients to him, as he is the Headmaster. I told him that Harry was malnourished and showed signs of chronic abuse. He has had multiple broken bones, almost as much scar tissue as Moody, and an extremely high pain tolerance level-higher than anything that could come about naturally."

"What does it mean?" Minerva asked sadly.

"We can't trust Dumbledore," the healer answered simply, her eyes closing as the alcohol finally caught up with her system. Hagrid sobbed slightly harder at the statement, but nodded in agreement, as did McGonagall, before she joined her friend in the blessedness of unconsciousness.

* * *

Dumbledore, unaware that his support was rapidly crumbling, apparated to the address he had been given by Tonks's father.

Upon his arrival, he barely had time to note that Fawkes was there before he was shielding from curses that were coming from two separate people. The real shock, though, came when he noticed Harry didn't have a wand, causing him to get hit with a cutting curse to the shoulder followed by a bludgeoning spell to his stomach. Neither was overly powerful, but the cutting curse had caused him to drop his wand, which Harry was soon pointing at him.

"Nymphadora," Harry said, preventing her from continuing to curse the old fool in front of them. Despite the pain he was in, Dumbledore was watching carefully and noted that the metamorphmagus did not react to her given name in her typical manner. He was wondering what the relationship between the two was when he felt his own wand pressed into his neck brought his attention back to a steely-eyed Harry Potter. "Care to explain yourself?" The young man asked, almost mockingly.

"About what?" Dumbledore asked, hoping to buy time and find out what they knew.

No such luck existed for him at that moment, though. "Everything!" Nymphadora hissed. "Placing him with the Dursleys, all the events at school, Sirius, the prophecy, the binding-"

"Nymphadora," Harry interrupted. She glanced at him, muttered something inaudible to herself, and glared at Dumbledore.

"May I at least ask what Fawkes is doing here?" Dumbledore questioned, acting as casual as possible when a potentially deadly weapon was pressing into his neck.

"No," Harry answered shortly. "Nymphadora, you said it seemed as though Snape was remorseful, correct?"

"It seemed that way, Harry," she confirmed, her eyes never moving from Dumbledore.

"I think we should put that to the test," Harry said, silently asking Wolfe a question. When the phoenix replied in the negative, Harry sighed and stunned Dumbledore. Nymphadora eagerly bound him and roughly maneuvered him into a chair while Harry penned a quick note and handed it to Wolfe, who promptly flamed away.

Roughly thirty seconds later, a very surprised potions master was flamed onto the premises holding a vial of clear liquid. "Mr. Potter, I recognized your handwriting, but how did you convince Dumbledore's phoenix to deliver the note for you?" He asked, far more polite than Harry or Tonks had ever heard him speak to anyone.

"Apparently, he's actually _my_ phoenix-" he was interrupted by a loud screech from Wolfe. "Okay, okay, phoenix _companion._ Dumbledore apparently performed some dark magic to prevent him fully bonding with me. Oh, and he changed his name to Wolfe."

As Harry finished speaking, Snape finally noticed Dumbledore trussed up in the background. After taking a few moments to recover from the shock, he glanced down at the vial in his hand before returning his focus to Harry. "So this potion isn't for me?" He asked, allowing a bit of his surprise to show through.

Harry shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea if there is a counter for truth serum, but I _am_ sure that if there was one, you would know it."

Snape nodded, rather impressed at his deductive reasoning, not something he'd ever displayed a knack for at Hogwarts. "You are correct, Mr. Potter, there is, in fact, a counter-serum. There is a counter to every potion, except for one. However, that potion's effect is, in fact, to counter all other potions, for life. Including poisons."

Harry looked puzzled for a moment, before a flicker of understanding came into his eyes. "I assume very few people use this potion because it would also negate healing potions?" He asked.

Snape nodded. "In part," he explained, "but also because the parts are so rare and so expensive. Among other things, it requires a griffin feather, phoenix tears, basilisk venom, dragon's blood, unicorn horn, acromantula venom, Chimera heartstring, werewolf fur, vampire heart, demiguise fur, dementor heart, and erumpent horn. Then there's its complexity. I'm a potions Master, but even I would struggle with it. However, I think we got off topic," he said, nodding towards Dumbledore.

Harry nodded, putting the potion to the back of his mind for now. "Professor, excluding the last few minutes, you've been nothing but nasty to me," Harry began. "To be blunt, why should I trust you? To be specific, at this very moment, why should I trust that that is, in fact, veritaserum?"

To his surprise, Snape nodded, as though expecting this question. "I, Severus Snape, swear upon my magic and my life to be honest with and treat with respect one Harry Potter unless in front of people I must keep my cover with," he vowed, a faint glow coming from him.

Nymphadora, who had again remained silent, gaped at the potions professor she had always been unsure about, as did Harry. Harry though, did not realize how rare such a vow was and recovered first. "That wasn't necessary, Professor, you could have simply sworn that that vial was veritaserum."

Snape actually smiled, but for once it wasn't a cruel smile. "I know, but I wanted to offer my services as a potions Master and Occlumency trainer. Actual Occlumency training is nothing like what I did to you before, and I apologize for that."

"Why?" Harry asked simply; he wasn't angry, or happy, merely curious.

"Two reasons," Snape answered. "One, I'm ashamed to admit that your appearance and knack for finding trouble reminded me of your father, and I childishly took that grudge out on you. Two...Dumbledore wanted me to open your mind so we could get more information." Harry merely nodded, not that surprised.

"I think we should question Dumbledore now," Nymphadora said after a few awkward moments of silence. The two men nodded and Severus administered the veritaserum before ennervating him.

"Why did you place me with the Dursleys?" Harry asked immediately, not sure how long the serum would last.

"I needed to keep you weak and compliant so Voldemort could kill you," Dumbledore answered tonelessly.

"Why?"

"You must die before Voldemort can, because you have a piece of his soul in your head."

"Any other reasons?"

"With you out of the way, I am the only one powerful to defeat Voldemort, making me greater than Merlin."

Nymphadora watched as her mind's image of the man she'd been brought up to revere crashed and burned in front of her. It was one thing to know what he had done, it was another to hear him admit it.

"Why not try to remove the piece of his soul and train me?"

"There was no way to find a way since it was an undocumented phenomenon. And because the prophecy said, 'a power he knows not,' but never says what that power is. I can't train someone to use an unknown power."

"What about the binding of my power?" Snape looked up sharply at that.

"I figured it would probably weaken Voldemort enough for me to kill him."

"And all that stuff throughout my Hogwarts years?"

"It was the only thing I could think of to try and bring out the power in you."

"Why would you try to unlock the power in me while trying to ensure I died?" Harry asked, really confused.

"In case I was wrong. It's always nice to have a backup plan. You defeating Voldemort while acknowledging me as your mentor would be nearly as good as me defeating him myself."

"Is there anything else you've kept a secret?"

"Voldemort made Horcruxes, which are pieces of his soul, which is how he has survived. Gellert Grindelwald used to be my friend until he killed my autistic sister."

"Didn't see that coming," Snape commented idly.

"What are Voldemort's Horcruxes?" Harry asked.

"I only know the diary was one, while Slytherin's locket, Slytherin's ring, and Hufflepuff's cup still are."

"What do you think the others are?" Snape asked.

Dumbledore was clearly starting to resist the veritaserum, but still answered, "Nagini, and some relic of Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, most likely Ravenclaw's diadem."

Snape stunned him again, recognizing that the effects were about to wear off, before obliviating him of the interrogation.

Tonks, recognising this as a good idea, obliviated him of the address as well as that her father was the Secret-Keeper. "What do we do with him, now?" She asked.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks go to Inzainiac, for cleaning up my messes as usual! And seriously, what should I do with Dumbledore? A poll has been opened!**


	9. Occlumency

_Tonks, recognising this as a good idea, obliviated him of the address as well as that her father was the Secret-Keeper. "What do we do with him, now?" She asked._

* * *

"Damn!" Harry said. At the looks he received from the other two, he explained, "I didn't get to ask him about Fawkes, or Molly, or Ron, or the marriage contract with Ginny!"

"Marriage contract?" Snape asked, looking surprised. Harry didn't miss the look of dejection that crossed Tonks face, but didn't want to bring it up in front of Snape.

"Yes," Harry nodded, "though there are three escape clauses, according to Faw-Wolfe. Jail, death, or marriage-"

_No,_ Wolfe interrupted, seeing what Harry would have said. _Ginny may not marry to end the contract, only you can._

"What?" Harry questioned. "Why?"

_It is part of the contract,_ Wolfe answered with a shrug, something that looked very odd on a bird.

"Okay..." He turned back to Nymphadora and Snape. "So jail, death, or _my_ marriage before my eighteenth birthday." He once more turned to Wolfe, asking, "Anything else I should know?"

Wolfe was silent, and just when Harry thought he wasn't going to get an answer, the bird replied, _Don't quote me on this, but I _think_ that the contract authorizes authorizes use of potions and/or spells._

Harry's face darkened. "How sure are you?"

_Only about seventy percent sure,_ the mythical bird answered.

"What is it, Harry?" Nymphadora asked.

Taking a deep breath, he answered, "Fa-Wolfe is seventy percent certain that the contract authorizes the use of potions and/or spells."

Both adults were shocked and slightly angered by this, but Snape was the one who applied it wider. "Damn it! This means he might have used potions or spells on any of us for anything!" He pointed out.

"How do we check?" Harry asked, glaring at Dumbledore.

Snape and Tonks both frowned for a moment in thought, before Snape answered, "Although I could check, it would probably be better if the goblins do. No matter how much we currently detest him, Dumbledore _is_ a very powerful and intelligent wizard, making it completely possible for me to miss something, while goblins are extremely skilled in the mind arts, and would even be able to penetrate _my_ shields in much less time than I care to admit."

"What about potions?" Tonks asked.

"Fortunately, mind-altering potions show up in the mind," Snape answered.

"So we still need to know what to do with Dumbledore, and we need to decide when to go to the goblins to check for charms," Harry summed up. After a moment's pause, he added, "We also need to warn others about the possibility of charms, compulsions, and potions."

"For right now, we keep Dumbledore unconscious until we can dose him with Veritaserum again and answer the questions we didn't get the chance to ask last time. We should go to the goblins tomorrow before questioning Dumbledore again so that we can add it to the list of questions," Snape suggested.

"Alright, but I want to do one thing first," Nymphadora answered.

"What?" The two conscious males asked simultaneously.

By way of answer, Nymphadora pulled back her fist and slammed it into Dumbledore's nose, resulting in a very loud crunching sound and quite a bit of blood on her fist, which she wiped on Dumbledore's robes with a very satisfied smile. Turning back to the other two, who were looking a little wary, she pointed to Snape, commanding, "Now _you_, teach _him,_" in reference to Harry, "occlumency."

Snape apparently decided, after years of being a complete jackass, to show that he did, in fact, have a sense of humor, by standing up straight, saluting Nymphadora, and answering, "Ma'am, yes, ma'am."

Harry and Nymphadora just stared at him for a minute, still not really used to the whole 'nice Snape' deal. Snape just smiled back-a real smile, not the smirk he usually wore.

"So how do we make sure Dumbledork stays unconscious for twenty-four hours?" Harry asked, deciding to ignore Snape's antics for the moment-and put off the occlumency lessons, which he was still unsure about.

"Stupefy," Snape said in answer, his wand pointed at the Headmaster.

"That'll work," Tonks shrugged.

"Yes, but for how long?" Harry asked with a frown.

"What do you mean?" Nymphadora asked, though Snape looked interested in the answer as well.

"Well, it is widely accepted that Dumbledore is one of the most powerful wizards in the world, if not _the_ most powerful," Harry explained. "Now, I don't know how powerful Snape is, but we can assume that Dumbledore's magical core would probably be strong enough to overcome one of his stunners fairly quickly. The question is, how quickly?"

Tonks looked surprised, but seemed to agree with Harry, while Snape was shaking his head. "Mr. Potter, do you know of the Deathly Hallows?" He asked his student.

Nymphadora gasped, but Harry frowned in thought before shaking his head. "The Deathly Hallows are three objects; the Elder Wand, the Cloak of Invisibilty, and the Resurrection Stone. The Elder Wand is unbeatable, the Cloak of Invisibility will never fade, and the Resurrection Stone can be used to converse with the dead, though it is said they will be in unbearable agony while on this plane of existence."

"What does that have to do with Dumbledore's power?" Nymphadora asked.

"He has-or, rather, _had_-the Elder Wand," Snape told them. "I say _had_, because you can only become the Master of the Elder Wand by defeating the previous master." He gave a pointed look to Harry, who was holding the wand.

"I thought you said it was unbeatable?" Harry asked.

"Nothing is _truly_ unbeatable," Snape answered. "When I realized what wand it was that Dumbledore held, I was curious as to how it was unbeatable, so I asked him."

"Why not just take it?" Nymphadora interrupted this time.

"I'm still a spy for Voldemort, and he's familiar with the legend of the Elder Wand, though not the rest of the Hallows. As soon as he realized what I had, I would be dead."

"So why not just duel him?" Nymphadora interrupted yet again.

"And that's why I asked Dumbledore what made it unbeatable," Snape continued smoothly, though his jaw was slightly tensed in frustration. "You see, the wand works by giving you the spell knowledge of your opponent, and giving you a power boost. Also, the wand is only truly unbeatable against one opponent. Do you honestly think that the rest of the Death Eaters would stay out of such a fight against their Master? But my original point was that Voldemort has studied _a lot_ of magic. The influx of that knowledge, in spite of my shields, could easily disorient me enough to give Voldemort an opening."

"Does disarming count?" Harry asked.

Snape nodded. "You are now the Master of the Elder Wand, and owner of the Cloak of Invisibility."

Harry started in surprise at mention of the cloak, but shook his head. "No. Tonks was the one who disarmed him with a bludgeoning hex to the stomach."

"WHAT?" Tonks shouted. "But...but...your cutting curse!" She exclaimed.

Harry shook his head. "He was still holding his wand."

"There's an easy way to test," Snape interjected. "Dumbledore told me that when he became master of the wand, it hummed in his hand with power."

Hary promptly handed the wand to Tonks, who stared at the wand in wonder and a hint of fear. "Does this mean people are going to come after me to kill me?" Nymphadora asked nervously.

"You're an auror," Snape pointed out. "People are going to try to kill you anyway. But yes, if people realize you have the Elder Wand, it will get worse."

"Oh goody," she answered sarcastically. "I wasn't sure I had enough to do with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back."

Harry rolled his eyes. "His name is Voldemort. Or Tom Riddle. Or disparaging variations, such as Dork Lord, Vulturewart, Moldyshorts, Snake-face, Mouldywart, Vultureshorts, or some other insulting name thereof."

"I like Mouldywart," Snape input cheerfully.

"You're more fun when you're not playing dark, vile, and greasy," Harry noted idly while watching Nyphadora's face shift through different levels of shock (and her hair shift through different colors.)

"You try being one of Mouldywart's followers," Snape retorted. "After your first dozen crucios, most people tend to lose their sense of humor. I think he's actually tortured more of his followers than people who oppose him."

"Bet they don't put that on the Death Eater recruitment flier," Harry responded as Tonks finally seemed to start getting over the numerous shocks thrown at her in a single day.

"Alright, you two, enough of this disturbing banter and get to occlumency," Tonks interjected.

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," Harry smirked, copying Snape from earlier.

Nymphadora mock glared at him before going to the kitchen, muttering sulkily, "Funny buggers, making fun of the Mistress of the Elder Wand."

The two men ignored the metamorphmagus as Snape transfigured the room back to its original state (plus Dumbledore) before conjuring two more chairs that faced each other.

Snape sat in one chair while gesturing for Harry to sit in the other one. Once the fidgeting teenager sat down, Snape began to explain-truly explain-occlumency. "You remember how I told you to clear your mind?" Harry nodded. "Well, that's bullshit. No one can truly clear their mind. What you want to do is compartmentalize. For example, you can organize by emotions, which is the most common, or you can organize by experiences. I don't really know any others."

"How do I do that?" Harry blurted out.

Snape held up a hand. "Patience," he admonished amusedly. "Emotions are rather obvious, while experiences are sorted by things like, in my case, House and then year of Potions classes, what I learn from Voldemort, what I learn from Dumbledore that Voldemort is supposed to learn, what I learn from Dumbledore that Voldemort is _not_ supposed to learn, and free time. Before you can do this, you have to find your center and visualize what you want to hide it in. For example, I hide everything in a mental version of Gringotts. The things I want hidden the most are hidden deeper and with higher security. I also have goblins and dragons guarding everything."

"How do I find my center?" Harry asked.

"You need to focus on your magic. It's easiest to start out with your eyes closed." Harry obediently closed his eyes. "Now, feel for your magic. When you find it, it will appear as a ball of one of the five elements; earth, water, air, fire, or, the one people always forget about, thunder."

"Is there something special about the element I see?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Snape answered. "The element you see is indicative of what type of occlumency shield would best suit you. Earth is pure defense. Water is more of a...fluid defense. Air is very similar to water, but a little more chaotic. Fire is my element, a combination of defense and attack. Thunder is nearly pure attack. I'll explain more in-depth when you have found what you're looking for."

Harry noddded, and the room went silent. Snape went into his own mind while Harry searched for his center. He didn't expect the boy to find his center today, or even within a week. It had taken him three months to find his own center, and that was fairly quick. So he thought he'd have time to sort the recent experiences more thoroughly.

Sadly, as usual, Harry defied normal. Within an hour, Harry announced he found his center, completely jarring Snape out of his own mind. "What do you mean, 'you found your center'?" Snape demanded.

Harry shrugged, his eyes still closed. "I'm pretty sure it's my center. It looks like a ball of lightning."

_Unbelievable,_ Snape thought. _How did he find his center so fast?_ "How did you find your center so fast?"

Harry shrugged again. "I just remembered what it felt like to cast a spell, and examined how the magic felt moving through me before following it to its source."

_Is it that easy?_ Snape asked himself. Closing his eyes, he brought up a memory of casting a spell, and followed Harry's suggestion. He found his center in seconds, causing his eyes to snap open in shock. How had no one ever thought of that before? Snape rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. Why did Harry Potter defy all odds?

Once more, Snape's eyes widened as that thought hit him. _He knows nothing of the magical world! So when he comes across something and no one has told him the rules, he just makes up his own! How else could he win against all odds? _He smiled to himself. He might actually enjoy teaching someone.

Since only a few moments had passed outside his mind, Snape began instructing Harry on what he knew of the lightning element. "Lightning, as I said, is almost pure offense. You remember how I mentioned my guardians?" Harry nodded. "These are the offensive part. You can set them to guard your entire mind, or certain memories."

"But I need something to store those memories in, right?" Harry asked.

Strictly speaking, for thunder elements, this wasn't true. However, Snape recalled his earlier epiphany and merely replied, "That's entirely up to you."

Harry nodded, and got to work. Inside his mind, Harry started with what to store his memories in. He liked Snape's idea of Gringotts, but didn't really know any of those defenses that well. He carefully considered places he knew of that were safe. The only places he could think of were Gringotts, Hogwarts, and maybe a muggle bank. But too many people knew those places, which would leave his mind wide open.

_His mind._ Harry mentally groaned as he realized that it was his mind. The actual rules didn't matter. So he searched through his memories, realizing with a slight shock that he could now recall _everything_ from the time he was four, and found something he had glimpsed on the Dursleys' TV once. It was a whole bunch of small, metal, boxes lining a wall, which he vaguely recalled hearing termed 'safety deposit boxes'. However, instead of a straight wall, he formed a dome. He then organized them by year, and importance within that year. The exceptions were either very painful or very imprtant memories. Those went at the top.

After organizing all of his thoughts, he put a dangerous animal in each one. At the bottom, he put non-magical animals, such as wolves, panthers, tigers, bears, alligators, and some snakes. As he moved up to more important memories, he started adding magical animals, such as dragons, acromantula, hippogriffs, blast-ended skrewts, nundus, and chimeras at the very top.

After filling each box, Harry realized that he should prevent people from getting into them in the first place, and placed goblins in front of each year. Then he realized that if people couldn't get into the dome, it wouldn't matter. So he placed giants ringing the outside, followed by a giant basilisk wrapping the entire dome in its coils. As a final step, he placed an arrival point-surrounded by a pack of werewolves. Unable to think of anything else to add, he opened his eyes.

While Harry worked on his mindscape, Snape improved his, as he had originally planned. This time, however, he moved quickly, unsure of how long Harry would take. Within an hour, he had finished. Within another hour, his student opened his eyes. "Are you done?" Snape asked.

"I think so," Harry answered. "Now what?"

"Now I test your shields." Harry visibly tensed, but Snape pretended not to notice. "I'll start off gently, and work my attacks up to what you knew before. When I believe you are ready, I will attack unexpectedly." Snape raised his wand, and waited, clearly indicating that they would proceed when Harry was ready. Taking a deep breath, Harry nodded. "Legilimens."

Snape found himself on a plain-surrounded by werewolves. He quickly shielded himself and attempted to make himself appear at Harry's center. When that failed, he sprinted towards it. He passed between the legs of a giant, made himself immaterial, passing through the basilisk and a metal dome. When he found himself surrounded by goblins, he stunned them all. Taking a moment to look around, he realized he was in something similar to a muggle bank with safety deposit boxes. He opened one, and found himself attacked by a bear. He quickly subdued it, and watched as a seven-year-old Harry was babysat by Arabella Figg. He could feel that Harry didn't really like her, but that at least he got food. Moving down in that same row, he was attacked by a wolf. Again, it was quickly subdued, and he watched Harry score poorly on a test. Realizing that the bottom was less important, he made himself fly to the top. Picking one at random, he found a chimera landing on top of him. Instead of attempting to subdue it, he simply threw it off of him, wondering if Harry had considered that they couldn't fly. When it continued to fall, he looked at the memory. A five-year-old Harry Potter was cooking breakfast on Dudley's birthday. As soon as he finished, Vernon literally picked him up and threw him into the cupboard under the stairs. Harry watched through the slats in the doors as Dudley was doted upon and received presents, followed by being let out and made to clean up. Snape watched the rest of the day, as Harry began to realize that, with Snape in here, he could still control things, and began trying to push him out. Just as the memory ended, Harry succeeded.

Back in his body, Snape closed his eyes, calming himself after watching a five-year-old Harry Potter attempt to kill himself. Right now, Snape knew that Harry currently had the same mindset of the five-year-old in that memory, and getting angry would be counter-productive at the moment. After taking a few more moments to hide those memories, Snape opened his eyes to see Harry with his own eyes closed-presumably locking up his memories again, and probably attempting to prevent the ease with which Snape had penetrated his mind. Less than a minute later, Harry opened his eyes.

"What can you fix?" Snape asked, ignoring the memories for now.

"I need to prevent you from being able to improve yourself, or use magic," Harry replied, also ignoring the memories. Snape nodded, and waited with an expectant look on his face. Harry frowned in thought for a moment, finally continuing, "I also needed to start trying to push you out faster."

Snape nodded again. "Correct. However, you should also attempt to make false memories. Another thing you could consider is, instead of preventing me from every kind of boost, select specific ones to block. For the rest, tie your protectors to the arrival point you created so that they draw upon your enemy's own magic. When you try to prevent me from boosting myself, you have to use your own magic to block each boost. This means you have to either block everything continually, which is very draining, or shift with each boost I use, which takes a moment, and could allow me through. By blocking my ability to shield and become immaterial, I have to deal with your protectors and the dome you created. By tying your protectors to the arrival point, they will latch onto your enemies magic. If your enemy makes himself move faster, your protectors can, as well. If your enemy makes himself stronger, your protectors become stronger, as well. Best of all, these enhancements are drawn from your enemy's own magic, tiring them quicker."

Harry nodded, looking intrigued, and entered his mindscape to make some of the suggestions. He quickly placed blocks on becoming immaterial and shielding, then tied his protectors, as Snape called them, to the arrival point. However, he also kept them tied to himself, as he realized that they couldn't be _as_ strong or fast as his enemy, they needed to be stronger or faster. Once this was done, he didn't immediately leave, as he tried to figure out what else Snape could use. The only thing that came to mind was invisibility, which he promptly blocked. He left creating false memories for another time, and opened his eyes, nodding to Snape to indicate his readiness.

Snape once again found himself surrounded by werewolves, and tried to make himself invisible. He smiled a bit grimly as the werewolves pounced, impressed by Harry's foresight. As he dodged the werewolves, who _were_ fallible and ended up killing each other off, he made illusionary copies of himself, giving one the appearance of his magical core while hiding his actual core. He noted that Harry was watching, but not attempting to push him out. He wondered if this was accidental, or if Harry was testing his own defenses. Either way, he could feel a sense of surprise emanating from the boy, especially when all his protectors attacked the image he made with the appearance of his magical core. Fortunately, although the clones were solid, they couldn't 'die' as long as the real Snape 'lived'. Which meant that, he was both ignored, and couldn't be killed through his illusions. His real problem was getting through the dome. Fortunately, he could increase his strength without fear of it being used against him, and he was soon sifting through memories again, though Harry pushed him out before he could truly get anywhere.

Once he expelled Snape from his mind, Harry replaced the memory of finding out what his name was, and set about blocking illusions. Once that was done, Harry also tied the dome to the arrival point, before opening his eyes and allowing Snape one last try for the night. Snape conjured a sword, quickly managing to dispatch the werewolves, climbed onto the basilisk so that the giants would beat it to death, then, sharpening his sword, cut through the dome. Harry threw him out before he could see a memory, then proceeded to prevent his protectors from being able to harm each other, which he realized he should have done last time, and left his mindscape.

"Well, done, Harry," Snape greeted him warmly. Harry may not realize how far he had come, but Snape did. In less than a day, the green-eyed wizard was approaching his own skill in occlumency in terms of countering tricks. In some ways, he did even better by creating a place to hold his memories that had no actual entrance, which Snape had never thought of. Snape may not have been the most skilled legillimens, but he did know many tricks, if not all, tricks, and Harry was countering them quickly. "Tomorrow, we'll work on shielding your surface thoughts, which are currently still unprotected."

Harry nodded wearily. "Thank you, professor."

"Come eat, ladies," Nymphadora called. She'd been listening for the end, and had kept warming charms on the food.

After a silent dinner, since both males were exhausted, and Nymphadora was still thinking about the consequences of the Elder Wand, Snape left, and Tonks brought Harry into her room, stating that it had helped them both sleep when he had half-heartedly protested. It was, indeed, the best night's sleep either of them had had.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to Inzainiac for fixing my mistakes, as usual. Also, since I forgot to mentione it last chapter, the idea of Arianna being autistic came from Seel'vor's _The Real Us._ I highly recommend that story.**

**Keep reading for me to save some more villains and villify some more heroes! And, o****n a side note, who should get the Resurrection Stone since I've decided that Harry will not be the Master of Death in this story?**


	10. I'm On My Way

Yes, I'm still here! I apologize for the long delay - my days jumped from a little over 40 hours a week to a minimum of 60, and occasionally over 70. Last week I worked over 80! But I have now changed jobs and am back to a fairly even schedule of 40 hours a week. On the downside, I had all of my files saved here on FanFiction because my computer kept crashing, and because I've been away for so long, it's all gone. I hope to review/rewrite what I have in my posted stories, and start writing the next chapters in my stories within the next 2-3 weeks, and I hope to have something posted within the next 2 months. Keep your fingers crossed!

Proud Mudblood


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